The Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2092 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2020 on a general regime of conditionality for the protection of the Union budget has been in force since the beginning of 2021. Its entry into force marked the beginning of a new era for the European Union budget management. Specifically, the Regulation empowers the Union to suspend disbursements from the Union budget and programs established for pandemic recovery, if the condition of compliance with the rule of law is not fulfilled. Put differently, if the values encompassed by the broader concept of the rule of law are threatened, the Union can suspend the payments from the budget, request early repayment of loans, or even prohibit the conclusion of new agreements on loans with a particular Member State. Thus, the Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation clearly stands at the core of the relationship between the rule of law and the financial instruments of the EU, particularly those created for economic recovery during the pandemic. Therefore, the aim of this paper is a legal analysis of the interplay between the EU public finance law and the rule of law. In doing so, particular attention is drawn to the recent procedures initiated under the Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation. The first section of the paper presents the process of adopting the Regulation in the context of socio-political developments in the EU. The next section illustrates the course of the Regulation's adoption, which has significantly influenced its content and scope of application. The central part of the paper is the analysis of the Regulation's wording, particularly considering the conditions for its application and the mechanisms available to the Union regarding the Member States. Finally, the connection between the rule of law protection and the new instruments developed during the pandemic is discussed, taking into account the measures undertaken by utilizing the conditionality mechanism.