The Austrian justice minister, Josef Moser, is “confident”, albeit “not 100% certain”, that a solution can be reached with Poland in the framework of the article 7 procedure over the rule of law (see EUROPE 12055).
Speaking after a working session at the informal meeting of justice ministers in Innsbruck on Friday 13 July (see other article), the minister explained that the Austrian Presidency of the Council of the EU would seek to “build bridges” with Warsaw through dialogue, in which the member states may also participate.
Five rule of law events, including in the Western Balkans, are scheduled under the Austrian Presidency.
Moser explained that he had already had “very good contacts with Poland and Hungary” which, he added, had expressed a desire to discuss these matters and to keep communications open. “We hope that there will be a conclusion by the end of the Austrian Presidency”, he added.
The European Commissioner for Justice, Vera Jourova, supports the initiative, stressing that she stands ready to provide the Commission's full support.
The two officials were speaking as the justice ministers were called upon, on Friday lunchtime, to discuss the relationship between the European arrest warrant and rule of law matters.
The question has arisen due to the doubts expressed by the Irish courts over the Polish judicial system and the conclusions of the Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the EU that Ireland may refuse to execute a European arrest warrant if it considers that there are doubts that the suspect's rights will be respected in the country to which he or she is to be extradited, in this case Poland (see EUROPE 12051).
The question asked was as follows: is it politically acceptable for the judicial system of one country to rule on whether the rule of law is being observed in another?
The Commissioner explained that she would ask the member states to go along with the Court's recommendations, which aim to steer them in their compliance with the European treaties.
The European arrest warrant is a “success story”, Jourova stressed, with more than 130,000 of them issued in ten years. However, certain fundamental rights have been called into question recently, she acknowledged, also recognising that the question of mutual trust needs to be revisited, having been taken for granted previously. “We thought that it was a certainty, but today, in 2018, we need to win back this mutual trust”, she observed.
Jourova stressed that even if it has a large majority, a government cannot enforce the “law of the jungle” and must bend to the elementary principles of the rule of law, which are based, amongst other things, on a strict separation of powers.
On Friday morning, the ministers also discussed the mutual recognition of judgements in civil and commercial matters, here also raising the question of mutual trust between the member states. The Austrian Justice Minister hopes to speed up the recognition of certain decisions, particularly in cases of child abductions by one of the parents. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)