The EU27 Ministers for European Affairs held a wide-ranging discussion, on Tuesday 20 September, on the state of the Rule of law in the EU, based on the Commission’s annual report published on 13 July (see EUROPE 12992/1).
This report, which reviews the independence of the judiciary, freedom of the media, the fight against corruption and the general institutional balance, “has a very positive impact” in the Member States and allows for “very concrete reforms, including reforms of the national councils of the judiciary”, declared at the end of the meeting the European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, who will be visiting Spain next week to discuss the subject of justice.
Almost all Member States took the floor on Tuesday during the hour-and-a-half-long discussion, a source said. All welcomed the quality and robustness of this annual report and appreciated the existence of recommendations addressed to Member States for the first time.
The countries that took the floor explained the reforms they have implemented or are in the process of implementing and also discussed how they will respond to the various recommendations. They stressed as well the importance of maintaining dialogue on the subject of the Rule of law.
In addition, the Commission’s decision of 18 September on the conditionality of EU funds for Hungary (see EUROPE 13024/9) was mentioned by a handful of countries, including Poland, which expressed its reservations about the procedure.
The Hungarian minister, Judit Varga, on the other hand, spoke very positively, according to this source, and welcomed the dialogue with the Commission on this subject.
On her arrival in Brussels in the morning, the minister asked the Member States for “time” to allow Hungary to implement the announced reforms. “I will ask Member States to be tolerant and positive”, she commented, asking her partners to appreciate the danger that a decision to suspend EU funds for the first time could pose. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)