The European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE) will tackle the impact of Covid-19 on the Rule of law and fundamental rights and discussed a draft resolution on the subject on Thursday 15 October, led by LIBE Chair Juan Fernando López Aguilar of Spain.
The project is reviewing the emergency health measures taken in the Member States, particularly in April and May, and aims to draw “lessons from the first wave” to prepare for the next waves ahead, summarised Dutch MEP Sophie in 't Veld, chair of the LIBE monitoring group on democracy, the Rule of law and fundamental rights.
While Member States’ governments are indeed tightening measures to fight Covid-19, the text recalls that “even in a state of emergency, the fundamental principles of the Rule of law, democracy and respect for fundamental rights must prevail” and that all emergency measures, derogations and limitations must be subject to “three general conditions: necessity, proportionality and the temporary nature” of the measures.
The text also insists on the need for democratic control over these measures and considers that the countervailing powers played their role well overall during the first wave.
The text also calls on Member States not to abuse these emergency powers and to define them clearly in terms of wording and scope.
The groups broadly welcomed the draft resolution, which will now be amended; the S&D group intends, for example, to clarify the issue of domestic violence and to raise concerns about the Roma, who sometimes become the scapegoats of governments during these times of health emergencies, said German Katarina Barley. Other groups such as the GUE/NGL also want to insist on the defence of media pluralism.
Link to the report: https://bit.ly/2FwJ8jj (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)