15/01/2018 (Agence Europe) – The hard-won agreement between the CDU/CSU and the SPD (see EUROPE 11938) on Friday 12 January includes a toughening of compliance with the principles of democracy and solidarity within the EU. “We want to keep Europe together on the basis of its democratic and rule of law values, deepened at all levels of government and we want the principle of reciprocal solidarity strengthened”, it states. After laying emphasis on parliamentary culture at national, regional and municipal levels, the text states plainly that “the democratic and rule of law values and principles, on which European integration is built, should be enforced more consistently than has been the case until now” (link: http://bit.ly/2DeKpIJ ). It may be remembered that Italy and France want to see new conditions on the rule of law introduced (see EUROPE 11935), unlike Poland (see EUROPE 11919). (PH)