On Tuesday 19 November in Brussels, the EU ministers responsible for European affairs will take stock of the state of the Rule of law in five Member States.
Initially, the Member States will hold the third regular dialogue on respect for the rule of law in the following four countries: Austria, Malta, the Netherlands and Poland. This assessment will be based in particular on the specific annual report presented by the European Commission in July (see EUROPE 13460/1).
At the request of Germany and other Member States, the ‘General Affairs’ Council will also take stock of the situation regarding respect for EU values in Hungary, in the context of the so-called ‘Article 7’ procedure opened against this country.
“The Commission will draw up an inventory, and Hungary will be able to present its point of view. There are no exchanges planned, although delegations will be able to express their points of view, and no decisions will be taken”, said a European diplomatic source on Thursday 14 November.
The Commission’s annual report notes that in Hungary there was no progress in 2023 in bringing high-level corruption cases to trial or in removing obstacles to civil society organisations.
Competitiveness. The ministers will have an informal lunch on the role of cohesion policy in strengthening the EU’s competitiveness.
EUCO. The ministers will also begin preparations for the next European Council, scheduled for Thursday 19 and Friday 20 December in Brussels, the first summit to be chaired by former Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa, who will succeed Charles Michel at the beginning of December.
On the agenda will be European support for Ukraine, the situation in the Middle East and a discussion on the EU’s priorities “in a context marked by new geopolitical priorities”, according to this European source, probably referring to Donald Trump’s return to power in the United States next January.
The EU27 will also take stock of the implementation of the European Council’s conclusions on migration. They will also discuss resilience, preparedness, crisis prevention and the EU’s response to crises, on the basis of the ‘Niinistö’ report (see EUROPE 13524/2).
See the annotated agenda for the December European Council: https://aeur.eu/f/ebg (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)