On Tuesday 12 December, 25 European affairs ministers from the Member States adopted conclusions from the Spanish Presidency of the EU Council on the mechanism for annual dialogue on the rule of law, in which they reaffirm that “the 2014 conclusions of the Council of the European Union and the Member States meeting within the Council on ensuring respect for the rule of law continue to be valid” and agree “that the Council’s annual rule of law dialogue has proved to be useful, creating a space for constructive political exchanges among Member States and for sharing their best practices and lessons learned”.
Poland and Hungary did not support this text, as they reject the fact that these dialogues are based on the Commission’s annual reports. The conclusions underline the EU Council’s wish to continue to organise a general horizontal discussion in the second half of the year and to organise country-specific discussions three times a year from now on, “two in the first semester and one in the second semester, each focusing on the situation in four Member States” (currently five).
The current content and structure of this political dialogue “has enabled it to be stronger, more result-oriented and better structured”, and its current format, which includes general debates and country-specific sessions, “has effectively enhanced it by undertaking a yearly stocktaking exercise concerning the state of play and key developments as regards the rule of law”.
In addition, the conclusions reaffirm “the principles listed in the 2014 conclusions, notably: objectivity, non-discrimination and equal treatment of all Member States, a non-partisan and evidence-based approach”.
Link to the conclusions: https://aeur.eu/f/a3e (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)