The European Commission “will act with determination” to punish rule-of-law violations using a new sanctions mechanism that was upheld in court on Wednesday, a top European Union official has said. “The Commission will defend the Union’s budget against breaches of the principles of the rule of law,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Twitter. Von der Leyen said the commission is to adopt new guidelines in the coming weeks to clarify how the mechanism to withhold EU funds over rule-of-law violations works in practice. The EU executive arm is assessing certain cases subje…