Should the EU equip itself with new tools to enforce the rule of law and common values throughout the Member States? This question dominated part of the debates organised on Thursday 2 and Friday 3 May in Florence as part of the ‘State of the Union’ conference organised by the European University Institute.
The answers provided differ from one stakeholder to the next. The first Vice-President of the Commission and leading candidate of the social democratic family in the European elections, Frans Timmermans, expressed a certain degree of scepticism at a round table on the subject, convinced that nothing will really be possible “without the will of the Member States” to tackle the problem.
Attention has focused in recent years on the situation in Poland and Hungary, with two Member States subject to so-called ‘Article 7’ procedures on respect for the rule of law (see EUROPE 12232/3). In Romania, the social democratic government may soon be targeted by a Commission action (see EUROPE 12237/5).
On Thursday in Florence, an entire session was devoted to the situation in Hungary and Poland and, in general, to the specificity of the Central European countries of the Visegrád Group. The various violations of the judicial system and judicial independence in both countries and the general climate, tinged with autocratic tendencies, were examined in detail.
Hungary has “passed a point of no return”, explained Bálint Magyar, a Hungarian sociologist from the European Central University (ECU) and former Minister of Education. This professor, whose university was prevented from fully exercising its activity in Budapest by the government of Viktor Orbán, expressed his conviction that with independent judges in the country, many members of the ruling Fidesz Party “would now be in prison” because of the “criminal activities” linked to the fraudulent use of European funds.
For this researcher, the solution to the difficulties raised in these countries – which also form a kind of “alliance through blackmail” with the rest of the EU – requires “appropriate sanctions” to counter the autocratic tendency in these countries.
Another Hungarian, Greens/EFA MEP Tamás Meszerics, questioned the principle of conditionality, which has recently been developed in some European policies, including fiscal policy. The Member considered that, in the absence of any concrete effect in the countries concerned, no tool used at EU level, not even the emerging instrument that would make the granting of European funds conditional on respect for the rule of law, could really be effective.
It is therefore necessary to work on the ‘enforceability’ of the measures, Mr Meszerics stressed. He recalled that Slovakia and Hungary had challenged before the EU Court of Justice a decision taken in 2015 by a qualified majority of Member States on the mandatory relocation of asylum seekers to the EU (see EUROPE 11856/1) and that despite the legitimacy of the temporary mechanism by the Court, these two countries had not respected the obligation to receive migrants.
Frans Timmermans recalled that the European Commission will present new ideas in June to strengthen the tools available to ensure respect for the rule of law. “Not opposed to new instruments”, he also warned against mechanisms that would ultimately weaken the tools in place, referring to the peer review mechanism defended by Belgium and Germany in particular (see EUROPE 12217/3).
This peer review can be added to the existing instruments, but under no circumstances can it become an alternative, Mr Timmermans warned. He expressed greater interest in greater involvement of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe and increased scrutiny powers of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights.
Above all, the Vice-President of the Commission urged the Member States to ensure the success of the Article 7 procedure of the Treaty, which, according to Mr Timmermans, “does not only concern sanctions”, but can have positive effects through an extensive dialogue with the State concerned. But, without any desire to force a country to enter into this type of dialogue, it is the sure failure of the Article 7 procedure, he said. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)