On Wednesday 3 April, the European Commission launched a reflection on how to strengthen its instruments for 'monitoring' respect for the Rule of law, while the fronts have multiplied in recent years with the Hungarian and Polish cases and, more recently, the problem raised by Romania, which the Commission fears may reverse its progress against corruption achieved under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism.
It is a communication - before more concrete proposals in June - that First Vice-President Frans Timmermans presented on Wednesday at noon, the starting point being that Member States must be able to “trust” each other, a problem of the rule of law in one country with consequences for others.
The Rule of law “is a responsibility for everyone”, said the First Vice-President, who is also the Spitzenkandidat for the family of the Party of European Socialists. In June, after the European elections, the Commission should arrive with more robust proposals, he said. However, he has already warned that there will be no question of changing the Treaties to change the procedure in Article 7, which quickly requires unanimity of the Member States to continue on the path of political sanctions against a Member State at fault.
The Commission's Communication identifies three possible areas for action: first, efforts to promote the Rule of law and “relevant case law” among the general public with “communication activities for the general public”, but also actions for all institutions and professions. The second area of action is that of prevention at an early stage through regular cooperation and dialogue between the Commission and the national level. The Commission's current mechanism on the Rule of law already includes this notion of preventive action, but it has never been effective at this stage, for example for Poland or Hungary.
Finally, the third area of action concerns the precise responses to the rule of law problems that exist in a country and, to date, the EU has only a genuine Article 7 of the Treaty at its disposal, although the Commission proposed in 2018 to make certain European funds conditional on respect for the rule of law. In its communication, the Commission also asks whether it is necessary to consider acquiring more tools of this kind based on conditionality and whether other organisations such as the Council of Europe should also be more closely involved. The answers will be made known in June.
Romania's warnings
Frans Timmermans again took the opportunity, on 3 April, to express his concern about the situation in Romania, where a new law on impunity for officials accused of corruption is reportedly about to be adopted. The First Vice-President promised that the Commission would react as quickly as possible and use “all its tools” if this law passed. He reiterated his call to the Romanian government not to reverse “all the progress achieved” under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)