On Friday 19 July, in Helsinki, EU Justice Ministers discussed the issue of respect for the Rule of law, in order to ensure independent and effective national judicial systems and to create mutual trust.
To date, since respect for the Rule of law has been the prerogative of European Affairs Ministers, it is time for Justice Ministers to take a closer look, said Finnish Minister Anna-Maja Henriksson, who believes that “we need a campaign for the Rule of law in Europe now".
The Commissioner of Justice, Věra Jourová, recalled that respect for the Rule of law was "not an achievement" in the European Union and that it was necessary to "continue to fight" in order to defend it.
On Friday, Justice Ministers agreed to discuss this very issue more regularly. The Finnish Presidency of the Council of the EU asked them whether these discussions should be based on European case law on the subject, and whether new tools were needed to instil a culture of the Rule of law within national judicial systems.
This discussion is currently taking place at a time when two countries—Poland and Hungary—are currently subject to an Article 7 Treaty procedure on respect for the Rule of law (see EUROPE 12299/7). Romania and Bulgaria are being monitored under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism (CVM) in order to verify their judicial reforms are not corrupt.
A year ago, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that the existence of systemic failures in the judicial system of a State where a European arrest warrant was issued, could justify the refusal of the executing State to execute the warrant (see EUROPE 12070/1).
For Ms Jourová, the Article 7 procedure against Poland will "continue" if Poland does not reverse its most controversial measures. One of them was annulled by the Court of Justice (see EUROPE 12281/2). "At first, no one wanted to activate this procedure”, the Commissioner recalled.
In a note serving as the basis for the discussions, the Finnish Presidency pointed out that one of the main elements of the Rule of law is that all public actors act within the framework of laws and under the supervision of independent and impartial courts, which is an essential condition for mutual trust. Given that national courts are European courts when applying European law, it is therefore up to these same courts to ensure that the rights and obligations arising from European law are indeed respected.
The training of judges and all judicial personnel with regard to these Rule of law issues, is an essential element, even if the existing EJTN network for professional training is functioning properly. The network has benefited from 6,700 professionals in 2018. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)