MEPs from the European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE) and Legal Affairs (JURI) continued their discussions on Thursday 24 January on the draft report prepared by Heidi Hautala (Greens/EFA, Finland) and Josef Weidenholzer (S&D, Austria) on the Justice programme for 2021-2027, aimed at promoting the establishment of a European area of justice based on mutual trust (see EUROPE 12030).
29 special agreements could already have been reached between political groups, in particular regarding definitions, strengthening access to justice for all, rights of the child or even evaluation of the programme.
In their report, the co-rapporteurs also proposed an increase in the financial allocation for the programme to 400 million euros in current prices, compared with the 305 million euros proposed by the Commission.
The discussions focused a lot on how to take into account the particular needs of vulnerable groups, explained Heidi Hautala. There are still some differences of opinion on the list of vulnerable groups that the text should explicitly mention and, in particular, on how to include the gender perspective, she said.
The EPP Group welcomed the fact that its proposal to include the impartiality and independence of judges in the programme's objectives had been included in the special agreements.
Nevertheless, it expressed reservations with regard to several other proposals. This is particularly true regarding the mention of support to civil society in the objectives of the programme.
Axel Voss (EPP, Germany) said, "We think that unlike the Rights and Values programme, the Justice programme targets justice professionals and not citizens associations".
The group recommends removing this reference from the objectives, but keeping it as an appendix in the specific activities of the programme. In contrast, Sophie in't Veld from the Netherlands (ALDE) was in favour of maintaining it.
More generally, Axel Voss warned against the many "repetitions" of text from the "Rights and Values" programme. "This Regulation should focus exclusively on achieving a European area of justice by building trust between legal professionals and improving access to justice", he said.
The vote on this report in the parliamentary committee is scheduled for 4 February next year, before a vote in plenary session which should take place in March. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)