The European Commission indicated on Tuesday evening, 23 October in Strasbourg, that it would propose in 2019 an initiative to strengthen its rule of law mechanism adopted in 2014 (see EUROPE 11036).
In a plenary debate on the progress made over the past two years on the European Parliament's request to establish a regular formal framework for assessing the situation of the rule of law in all Member States (see EUROPE 11654), First Vice-President of the Commission Frans Timmermans added that this initiative, whose outlines he did not specify, would be based on recent experiences in the Commission and Parliament.
The European official referred to the many infringement proceedings opened on this question of the rule of law (in particular against Hungary), but also and above all to the two so-called 'Article 7' proceedings, launched respectively by the Commission against Poland and by Parliament against Hungary (see EUROPE 12118).
The Commission has left "no doubt" over the past two years about its commitment to defending fundamental rights in the EU and it is "increasingly important to use our instruments", Frans Timmermans referred in passing to the new budgetary initiative to restrict access to European funds when a failure in the rule of law is detected in a country. The Vice-President went back to European Parliament's 2016 resolution and considered that there were good things to resume, such as dialogues between national parliaments and the European Parliament. The Commission would in any case be ready to contribute to these debates.
In the EU Council, the situation is addressed in the form of annual dialogues on the rule of law (see EUROPE 11219) and in the form of informal peer review (apart from the hearings with Poland scheduled under Article 7). The last such dialogue took place under the Estonian Presidency, particularly on the media. The next one will take place in November under the Austrian Presidency, announced Secretary of State Karoline Edtstadler, and will focus on "trust in public institutions and the rule of law".
However, faced with criticism from some MEPs, the Austrian refused to conclude that this annual mechanism does not work. It is "too early to draw negative conclusions", she said.
Sophie in't Veld (ALDE, The Netherlands) was one of the most critical; she, who was rapporteur in 2016, wanted Parliament to make annual country-by-country reports on the state of the rule of law on its own, without waiting for the Council and the Commission.
She was later scolded by Frans Timmermans for a tweet she wrote during the debate and found offensive by the Dutchman. He refused to let her say that the Commission had done nothing and did not wish to consolidate its instruments on the rule of law. "Ridiculous" comments, the first Vice-President even said.
Austrian socialist Josef Weidenholzer argued for Member States' comparative assessment tables (‘benchmarking') on this rule of law issue, which would help to “objectify the debate”. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)