On 18 July, the ‘General Affairs’ Council will again address the issue of the Rule of law, in this case in Poland, with a new review of the situation on the ministers' agenda. For Hungary, no review is planned for 18 July, but a hearing could be scheduled for September, even if the final format were still to be defined by the Finnish Presidency of the EU Council.
At the end of 2017, the European Commission initiated the so-called Article 7 procedure against Poland, which subsequently led to three hearings (see EUROPE 12158/24). The last one took place in December 2018, with no such exercise having taken place under the Romanian Presidency of the EU Council.
This system of hearings may perhaps also be the subject of consideration under the Finnish Presidency, as the hearings have not necessarily proven effective, unlike the Court of Justice of the EU, for example, which recently required Warsaw to definitively repeal one of its controversial laws, in this case the lowering of the retirement age for judges.
Pending this new hearing on 18 July, the Commission could also present its new communication on the rule of law to ministers if the College adopts it in time before the meeting. This will involve ‘strengthening’ the Commission's tools in order to respond to problems encountered in a particular Member State, for example by involving external bodies such as the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe more closely in EU procedures.
On 18 July, European Affairs Ministers are also expected to be invited to adopt without discussion the modalities of these future hearings on the Rule of law. The Permanent Representatives will discuss a document setting out the practical framework for these hearings, for example, the speaking time allocated to speakers, the order of speaking and other technical aspects, on Wednesday 10 July. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)