German MEP Terry Reintke (Greens/EFA) told the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties on Monday 7 February that the European Commission’s annual reports on respect for the Rule of law in the EU27 should contain a specific chapter on civil society and NGOs, the actors “most under attack”, as well as much stricter monitoring criteria with “more concrete information, deadlines”, and a range of actions to be taken “if Member States fail to react”.
The MEP was speaking in the context of the presentation of her draft report on the 2021 Rule of Law Report, which the European Commission presented in July 2021 (see EUROPE 12766/2).
Mrs Reintke also wanted the EU institution to be much more precise in describing the weakening of the Rule of law, some of which is “systemic” and more serious. She is also asking the European Commission to create a better link between its observations and the tools at its disposal: infringement proceedings, the so-called ‘Article 7’ procedure of the European Treaty, and the regulation on the conditionality of European funds.
Anna Donáth (Renew Europe, Hungary) called for the creation of a Rule of law indicator, with red, orange, and green zones depending on the severity of the situation. Andrzej Halicki (EPP, Poland) called for a chapter on illegal eavesdropping by governments via spyware such as ‘Pegasus’.
In her draft report, Mrs Reintke also regrets that the weakening of the Rule of law in Poland and Hungary is not described as a “deliberate process”. She is calling on the European Commission to “make clear that when the values enshrined in Article 2 of the EU Treaty are deliberately, seriously, permanently and systematically violated over a period of time, Member States may no longer fulfil all the criteria that define a democracy and may become authoritarian regimes”.
The European Commission plans to make specific recommendations in its 2022 report and will begin its first visits to Sweden and Cyprus to prepare it.
Link to the draft report: https://bit.ly/35PdHgJ (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)