On Monday 9 October, negotiators from the European Parliament and the EU Council held their second round of inter-institutional negotiations (trilogue) on the ‘anti-SLAPPs’ directive. However, progress was limited.
While the European Parliament welcomes the efforts of the Spanish Presidency of the Council to make progress, the team of rapporteur Tiemo Wölken (S&D, German) believes that “major political concessions” are still needed. This applies in particular to the definition of a cross-border case, damages and the intervention of a third party in legal proceedings (see EUROPE 13220/10).
The two institutions have opted for opposite approaches to the definition of the cross-border nature of a case. The Parliament considers that any act of public participation “accessible by electronic means” in several EU countries should be covered by the directive (see EUROPE 13210/22). The Member States, for their part, wish to leave this to the discretion of the judges. Criticised for introducing legal uncertainty (see EUROPE 13198/2), they argue that since EU legislation already uses this concept, the courts have the elements to interpret it.
On the question of damages, the European Parliament wants full compensation for victims, whereas the EU Council sets limits. Belgium is one of the countries to have expressed reservations about financial compensation, arguing in particular that it would compromise fair access to justice.
Finally, there are differing views on the possibility of third parties intervening in legal proceedings. While the European Parliament wants this to apply to associations and other “collective bodies” such as trade unions, the EU Council limits this possibility to NGOs. At the same time, MEPs believe that third parties must be able to act on behalf of the accused, while the EU Council believes that they can only play a supporting role.
The negotiators hope that the third trilogue, scheduled for 29 November, will be the last, counting on the seven technical meetings scheduled in the meantime to make progress. (Original version in French by Hélène Seynaeve)