On Tuesday, 23 January, members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE) adopted—by 42 votes to 10 with 2 abstentions—the report by Sophie in ’t Veld (Renew Europe, Dutch) on the European Commission’s annual report on the rule of law in Member States for 2023.
According to a European Parliament press release, the Dutchwoman’s report describes “problems prevalent across Member States, with worrying developments in several countries”. In particular, it cites the problem of threats to democratic institutions, between justice and prosecutorial systems, including reforms in Slovakia and the amnesty law in Spain; corruption and the major obstacles that whistleblowers face; the situation in Malta concerning the ‘golden passport’ system and the culture of impunity identified by the public inquiry into Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination; the state of independent authorities, including recent developments in Greece concerning the use of spyware; and the protection of journalists from threats, SLAPPs, and spyware—notably in Malta, Slovakia, and Greece—as well as questions raised in France following the recent detention of a journalist and the illegal wiretapping of a Dutch journalist.
[Cases of] excessive use of force by the police—for example, “the unregulated use of ‘less lethal weapons’”, the “mass detentions in France”, and “the disproportionate use of force against demonstrators as well as the killings of three young Roma in Greece”—are other elements cited in the report.
Link to the report: https://aeur.eu/f/aiz (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)