The EU Member States’ European Affairs Ministers will continue their work on respect for the Rule of law in the EU on Tuesday 20 April at the General Affairs Council (GAC).
Building on the first annual Rule of Law Report (see EUROPE 12571/5), this time they will look at the situation of the Rule of law in France, Germany, Ireland, Greece and Spain, based on a presentation by the European Commission. Five initial countries were similarly discussed in November 2020, namely Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia and Denmark (see EUROPE 12603/7).
The Commission’s report focuses on four areas: the independence of the judiciary, the media, the anti-corruption framework and the democratic balance, including the presence of checks and balances.
This exercise, which is intended to target more than just a handful of countries such as Hungary and Poland, which are themselves subject to an ‘Article 7’ procedure, does not involve strict recommendations, but is intended to be a lever for putting pressure on the Member States.
It is expected to be criticised for this on Tuesday by the member countries most often singled out, a source said.
United Kingdom. Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič will present to the ministers the progress made with the United Kingdom in implementing the UK’s EU Withdrawal Agreement, including the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The Vice-President will reflect on his recent dinner with his British counterpart, David Frost (see EUROPE 12700/14).
This was already discussed on Friday 16 April by the Member States’ ambassadors to the EU (Coreper). On that occasion, they supported the Commission’s approach of continuing technical discussions with London without ever calling into question the foundations of the Protocol and rejecting any unilateral solution.
The ministers will also discuss the implementation of the trade and cooperation agreement since 1 January and the ratification process in the European Parliament (see EUROPE 12699/1).
Covid-19. The EU health response to the Covid-19 pandemic is also on the agenda of the ministerial meeting. The GAC will take stock of the epidemiological situation and the vaccination campaign at a time when some ten Member States have already imposed, in a scattered manner, restrictions on the use of certain vaccines. Also on Monday, Bulgaria announced the suspension of the inoculation of the AstraZeneca vaccine to women under the age of sixty in the country.
Discussions will also focus on travel restrictions as well as the ongoing legislative work on the ‘digital green certificate’. As the Council adopted its position on this proposal last week (see EUROPE 12698/3), ministers are expected to be informed of the first informal discussions with the European Parliament on this subject.
Conference on the Future of Europe. The Portuguese Secretary of State, Ana Paula Zacarias, will present to the Member States the ongoing work on the establishment of the Conference on the Future of Europe.
Since the last General Affairs Council, the inter-institutional declaration laying the foundations for this pan-European consultation has been signed (see EUROPE 12675/6), the Conference’s Executive Board has met twice and, since Monday, the interactive digital platform is operational (see other news).
Participate in the digital platform of the Conference on the Future of Europe: https://bit.ly/2RCeryH
Enlargement. Finally, the Portuguese Presidency of the EU Council will inform the Member States on how it intends to proceed in dealing with the issue of enlargement.
By the end of 2020, a specific set of draft conclusions had not been agreed upon, in particular due to the issue of North Macedonia (see EUROPE 12626/20). (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic, Agathe Cherki and Mathieu Bion)