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Democratic backsliding as well as possible instruments to protect the rule of law have been discussed at the EU level for several years. However, only the European Council summit in December 2020 succeeded in reaching an agreement on the introduction of a comprehensive rule of law conditionality mechanism. Now, for the first time, the allocation of EU funds to member states is made conditional on adherence to the principles of the rule of law. In order to explain how this far-reaching decision became possible despite the persistence of deeply diverging interests, our analysis draws on the multiple streams framework (MSF). On this basis, we argue that the COVID-19 crisis created a window of opportunity, which was successfully utilized to put the pre-existing proposal for a rule of law conditionality mechanism on the agenda again and—more importantly—to adopt a respective regulation. The article concludes with a brief outlook regarding the application of the rule of law conditionality mechanism.