On Tuesday 21 March, the European Affairs Ministers of the Member States continued their round table of the Member States by examining the situation of the Rule of law in five countries: Slovakia, Bulgaria, Belgium, Finland and the Czech Republic.
Swedish Minister for EU Affairs Jessika Roswall welcomed this exercise, which has become traditional since the end of 2020, as a way of putting all Member States on an “equal footing” and exchanging “best practices” when the so-called ‘Article 7’ procedures are considered discriminatory by Poland and Hungary.
The discussion is inspired by the Commission’s annual reports assessing the independence of the judiciary, the fight against corruption and the freedom of the media.
Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders on Tuesday welcomed new reforms in Slovakia to improve the efficiency of the judiciary and progress on high-level corruption investigations.
In Finland, he noted the improved framework for NGOs. Belgium has also made progress in investigating high-level corruption, although the prevention of corruption cases needs to be improved. In Bulgaria, progress has been made on corruption, but more needs to be done on high-level corruption and the regulation of lobbying.
There also needs to be more transparency in State advertising in the media, he summarised. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)