Brussels, 22/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - How can we react quickly to “anti-democratic” actions on the part of one member state without having recourse to infringement proceedings or, in the worst case scenario, the “atomic bomb” of Article 7 of the Treaty, which brings in suspension of voting rights at the Council? Foreign affairs ministers tackled this difficult balance in Luxembourg on Monday morning at the request of the German, Danish, Dutch and Finnish ministers who, in a letter dated 8 March, expressed their concerns at developments observed in certain member countries, Hungary to name but one, and called on the Commission to look into an interim mechanism. On Monday, the ministers did, indeed, hold an initial exchange of views on this “letter of the Four”, but agreed only to base their work on a report by Commissioner Viviane Reding on the application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which she is due to submit to them on or around 8 May. On the principle, certainly, “everybody gave their support to this letter”, according to one source, with the possible exception of Malta and the Czech Republic, the latter having expressed concern at disproportionate controls on life in the countries and the suspicions which could arise as a result of these controls. The United Kingdom also called for a certain measure of caution in the criticism, which may have the effect of increasing votes for extremists. But on the whole, “it was fairly unanimously welcomed”.
Even Hungary and Romania, who were implicitly referred to, took the floor to support the principles of this mechanism, Hungary even pointing out how important the fundamental rights are, according to another source.
As things stand, however, things are a little bit more complicated than that, pointed out Reding, who prefers to focus on the “medium term rather than the short term” and struggles to see how a mechanism of this kind could be possible at the moment without any change to the treaty; amongst other things, it would involve a consultation of the national parliaments and give the Commission a new role. And “we must not create new rules in relation to a specific case”, Reding observed. This position was described by one source as “a bit hesitant” and “a bit surprising”, given that several ministers were expecting “rapid action” on Monday and “concrete proposals, rather than a report”. (SP/CG/transl.fl)