Speaking to a group of journalists on Wednesday 5 June, the European Parliament’s outgoing rapporteur on the so-called “Article 7” Treaty procedure against Hungary, Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield (Greens/EFA), expressed her disappointment and concern at the lack of progress made by the Member States on this procedure, which is designed to bring the country back into line with rule of law.
Having inherited this procedure in 2019 from Dutch MEP Judith Sargentini (Greens/EFA), who launched it a year earlier in Parliament, the French MEP, who is not standing for re-election, expressed regret that the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU had neither succeeded nor wished to make further progress in this procedure by activating the vote on a recommendation to establish a clear risk of violation of European values.
The Belgian Presidency, whose country, along with the rest of the Benelux countries, is one of the most vocal on the issue of the rule of law, did not receive sufficient support from the delegations. According to Ms Delbos-Corfield, the former European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders did not have any appetite for this recommendation either.
She also deplored the lack of response from the Council of the EU to Parliament’s request to withdraw Hungary’s Presidency of the Council of the EU, which starts on 1 July. “This is a fiasco for the European Union”, she said. “The political world is not reacting”, added the MEP, who hoped that Poland and Belgium would have addressed these aspects of the rule of law during the Belgian presidency. “So, yes, you can completely violate the rule of law and still have a normal presidency”, she lamented, “which is a very bad step for European democracy”.
Ms Delbos-Corfield is also concerned that the future Parliament could be much quieter on these issues, with MEPs like Sophie in ‘t Veld also set to leave the Chamber.
Prior to this, she issued a reminder of the persistence of problems in Hungary, in particular the first applications of the law on the protection of sovereignty and new elements concerning the so-called ‘LGBTI propaganda law’, with a section on online purchases.
“It’s very frightening, and I think we should be concerned about the state of our common future and our democracy”, she said. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)