The President of the European Commission gave a relatively timid speech on the rule of law in the EU on Wednesday 15 September, not wishing to go back over any of the current disputes, despite a “worrying situation” in some Member States.
For example, she did not mention her institution’s dispute with Poland over the independence of the judiciary nor the differences with Hungary after a recent law targeting LGBTIQ+ people led the Commission to delay its green light to the Hungarian recovery plan.
The President nevertheless announced a small innovation, namely that from 2022 onwards, the Commission’s annual reports on the rule of law in the EU27 “will constitute concrete recommendations to the Member States”, which is what the European Parliament in particular has been asking for months, as it wants structured monitoring in the Member States and not just a statement of existing problems.
The President also briefly referred to the principle of the primacy of European law and the fact that the judgments of the EU Court of Justice are binding on the Member States, which must apply them.
The President nevertheless defended her action as a mixture of “dialogue and determined action” with Member States where there are concerns. “This is what we have been doing for the past few weeks. And that is what we will continue to do”. She also gave pledges to the different groups on the conditionality of EU funds (see related article).
Upcoming legislative initiatives
The few other speeches by Mrs von der Leyen related to respect for democracy and fundamental rights focused on gender-based violence and freedom of the press.
Recalling that the successive lockdowns imposed as part of the Covid-19 pandemic have led to an increase in violence against women (see EUROPE 12457/17), the President promised the presentation, by the end of 2021, of a legislative project aimed at combating this scourge.
A public consultation on the subject was organised from February to May this year (see EUROPE 12653/16) in order, among other things, to determine the nature of the forthcoming text.
The announcement of a legislative text was welcomed by the Chair of the European Parliament’s Women's Rights Committee, Evelyn Regner (S&D, Austria), who said she was “looking forward” to working on the initiative with Commissioner Helena Dalli.
On the subject of press freedom, which is in decline in the EU (see EUROPE 12702/28), Mrs von der Leyen insisted on the need to respect the independence of the media and recalled that “media companies cannot be treated as just another business”.
She confirmed that the EU would create a European Media Freedom Act to guarantee this independence—an announcement that will be formalised on Thursday when a recommendation on the safety of journalists is presented (see EUROPE 12789/2).
The President, however, did not address head-on the issue of violations of the rights of LGBTIQ+ people, which continue to exist in the EU and are even worsening in some Member States.
While in her speech she once again advocated the freedom to “love whoever you want”, in her letter of intent she confirmed that a legislative proposal on the recognition of parenthood would be presented in 2022 (see EUROPE 12776/1).
See the State of the Union address: https://bit.ly/3ltHxvq
See the Commission's letter of intent for 2022: https://bit.ly/3EmHlGS (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic and Agathe Cherki)