It is not yet certain if EU European Affairs Ministers will be able to adopt their conclusions on the evaluation of the annual dialogue on the rule of law at the General Affairs Council on Tuesday 19 November, an evaluation which the EU Council had requested be carried out after three years, in 2016. The ministers will discuss these draft conclusions, which have been controversial for several weeks now. The worrying situation of the enlargement process will also occupy the ministers, who will try to pave the way for the EU-Western Balkans Summit.
A discussion by the national ambassadors to the Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER) on 6 November had already given rise to differences of opinion on the content of these conclusions (see EUROPE 12364/15). Several Member States, in particular those falling under the Article 7 procedure - Hungary and Poland - had then expressed the wish that references to certain principles formerly recognised in other conclusions should be mentioned more explicitly, in particular regarding aspects of respect for the political traditions, national identities and constitutional structures of the Member States (with reference to paragraph 4 of the December 2014 EU Council conclusions on respect for the rule of law). In a new version of the conclusions, the list of these principles will now be integrated. A previous draft of the conclusions, dated 31 October, included a paragraph stating that the 2014 conclusions remained "valid", which was considered insufficient for these delegations.
The differences related to the role to be assigned to the Commission's reports in the annual dialogue on the rule of law, which the Commission is to start publishing for all Member States, as suggested in its July 2019 Communication (see EUROPE 12298/2). These conclusions aim to articulate all the tools for dialogue on the rule of law, namely: the annual cycle proposed by the Commission around its future reports, the annual dialogue within the EU Council, which already exists, and the future peer review mechanism supported by some countries such as Belgium and Germany.
In particular, they provide messages to the Commission, inviting it to publish its future reports well in advance of EU Council meetings dedicated to the dialogue on the rule of law and to closely involve Member States in the preparation of these reports. It is also stressed that this annual dialogue must be better structured and more goal-oriented. On Tuesday 19 November, ministers will also hear, in public session, the views of the Director of the Agency for Fundamental Rights, Michael O'Flaherty, who will speak on the links between democracies, the rule of law and fundamental rights.
Enlargement in deadlock. The General Affairs Council will reconsider the question of enlargement one month after the European Council's refusal to open EU accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania. A European source informed EUROPE that the item had been placed on the agenda at the request of several Member States who are in favour of this opening. "The idea is not to have a political debate, but to take stock," said one diplomat. " We are in a difficult transition period at the institutional level, this is not an ideal time to make decisions. We should take stock of the current situation and see how we can move forward", he added.
The objective would also be to show that the European perspective on the Western Balkans is at the top of European priorities and that Europe is working on the issue. In their conclusions of 18 October, the Heads of State and Government promised to return to the issue of enlargement before the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Zagreb in May 2020.
MFF. The Finnish Presidency of the Council will also present an overview of the negotiations on the EU's multiannual financial framework (MFF) for 2021-2027 and present the next steps (see EUROPE 12364/14). There is no ministerial discussion on the sensitive issue of the MFF planned for Tuesday, according to a diplomatic source. In its conclusions of October 2019, the European Council invited the Presidency to present a 'negotiating box' with figures before the December European Council meeting. The new version of this negotiating box is expected to be presented around "late November, early December", according to one source. After the December European Council, it will be up to the new President of the European Council to ensure that negotiations are conducted at EU leader level. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic, Lionel Changeur, Camille-Cerise Gessant, with Agathe Cherki)