On Wednesday 4 September, the ambassadors of the Twenty-Eight confirmed that Hungary would hold a hearing on the Rule of law on 16 September at the General Affairs Council. This hearing will be dense and will address all the issues raised by the European Parliament, according to one source.
On the same day, Ministers will also have a public debate on how to strengthen the Rule of law in the EU and an information point on the procedure concerning Poland.
It is with this in mind that the First Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, met the Hungarian Minister for European Affairs, Judit Varga, in Brussels on 3 September. "This meeting was held at the request of the Minister", said Natasha Bertaud, the institution's spokesperson. The purpose was to discuss the Hungarian hearing.
According to the Commission, the First Vice-President was clear that the subjects discussed at this hearing should only be discussed on this occasion and not before.
On the Rule of law, the Commission also described the information published by Politico that the current Commissioner for Justice, Vera Jourova, would inherit the portfolio of ‘Rule of law’ associated with ‘Disinformation’ and ‘Hate speech’ under the next Commission as "pure speculation". "Nothing is decided at this stage", a spokesperson for the Commissioner said on their Twitter account. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)