As announced in the spring (see EUROPE 12225/4), on Wednesday 17 July, the European Commission submitted new ideas to Member States to strengthen the monitoring of the rule of law in the European Union. In particular, it proposed to set up an annual monitoring mechanism in all member countries, similar to what it does for national budgets.
As such, the Commission will present an annual report, giving substance to a long-standing request from the European Parliament, which had already made this request in an own-initiative report of November 2018 (see EUROPE 12137/5). In particular, it will analyse various aspects such as systemic risks in law enforcement, lack of protection by independent courts or failure to respect the separation of powers. The capacity of Member States to fight corruption will also be examined, as well as, to a certain extent, media pluralism. The Commission will draw inspiration from what NGOs, civil society or other institutions such as the Council of Europe have to say.
Member States will also be invited to establish a national point of contact to deal with these Rule of law issues and to communicate with each other. The tools currently in place, in particular the procedure under Article 7 of the Treaty, the efficacy of which has been contested, will remain in place, as will the use of infringement procedures.
In the most sensitive cases brought before the Court of Justice, the Commission will propose to consider interim measures to be applied and may request accelerated procedures, as it has done for the Polish law on the retirement age of Supreme Court judges.
On Thursday, the first Vice-President of the Commission, Frans Timmermans, will present this Communication to the European Affairs Ministers meeting for a General Affairs Council (see EUROPE 12297/2).
This document is based on three pillars, the Commission explains in a statement: the promotion of a culture of the rule of law, the early detection of problems and the effectiveness of responses to them.
As regards the culture of the rule of law, the Commission will consider holding an annual event with external actors such as NGOs but also OSCE or the Council of Europe, the latter bodies with which the Commission proposes to strengthen cooperation. The same applies to increased cooperation with national parliaments, but also to enhanced dialogue with the European Parliament or the Council of Europe.
On the other hand, the Commission did not take up the idea, put forward in April, of developing new conditionalities linked to respect for the rule of law, other than those suggested for the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework.
In the end, the two countries currently involved in so-called Article 7 procedures, Hungary and Poland, should find satisfaction in this Communication in that it extends the monitoring of respect for the rule of law to all Member States and no longer to a few specific countries. Link to the communication: https://bit.ly/2Gibn2f. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)