The Member of Parliament responsible for following up the European Parliament’s report on Article 7 against Hungary, Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield (Greens/EFA), praised on Friday 22 November the “courage” and work of the Finnish Presidency of the Council of the EU, which had just obtained a second hearing from Hungary on 10 December at the General Affairs Council (see EUROPE 12373/3).
However, she continued to deplore the fact that, in the procedure concerning Poland, the European Parliament, unlike the Commission, is still not allowed to participate directly in this procedure in the EU Council.
According to the French MP, there is therefore a lack of “loyal cooperation” between the European institutions on this subject of Article 7 concerning Hungary.
The Member was speaking at a debate in the Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE) on Finland’s work on this procedure, which began in September 2018. The Finnish Permanent Representative to the EU confirmed on that occasion that a second hearing would be held and that this time it would focus on specific issues, whereas the first hearing on 16 September had reviewed the very broad issues raised in the report by former elected representative Judith Sargentini (Greens/EFA).
In particular, the Permanent Representative told the members of the LIBE Committee that Member States had mainly asked questions on the state of education, freedom of the press and expression, corruption or the independence of the judiciary.
The tone – sources in September had already confirmed – had been quite correct and “constructive”, the Finnish representative said.
In the LIBE Committee, several elected representatives in any case reiterated their concerns about what they consider to be violations of fundamental freedoms, some citing, for example, the situation of NGOs: “Five resolutions have been passed since 2010 and nothing has changed”, Polish Socialist Sylwia Spurek said, saying that Article 7 has proved that it does not work and that other mechanisms must be implemented. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)