On Tuesday 4 November, MEPs on the European Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) examined the draft report on monitoring the application of European Union law in 2023 and 2024. Put forward by Dainius Žalimas (Renew Europe, Lithuanian), the text advocates regular and transparent monitoring of the implementation of European law, based on the European Commission’s 2023 Annual Report and sectoral reports published in 2025.
“States must implement and apply EU law in a timely and consistent manner”, said the rapporteur, who felt that this task was “complicated” by the fact that the Commission “decided not to make public its 2024 report on the monitoring of Community law”, which put an end to “a practice that dated back over 40 years”. In his view, “without reporting, transparency is eroded and so is public confidence”.
Referring to the documents submitted for 2025, he felt that “the Commission’s Annual Report overemphasises the successes without addressing the persistent challenges and implementation gaps”.
He also expressed concern at the “Commission’s reluctance to (...) initiate infringement proceedings, even in cases of flagrant infringement”, and therefore called for “objective and transparent criteria”.
Maravillas Abadía Jover (EPP, Spanish) spoke on behalf of Lukas Mandl (EPP, Austrian) and praised the clarity of the draft. The EPP shares “the need for regular, transparent reporting” and supports “more rigorous application of the law”. She added that “selective deregulation is also essential”.
Lara Wolters (S&D, Dutch) spoke on behalf of Éric Sargiacomo (S&D, French). She pointed out that this was “the first time in 40 years” that no annual report had been published, calling for the need to ensure “social justice, sustainability, prosperity” and for “resistance against pressure (...) to reduce standards”.
Amendments may be tabled until 14 November, before the vote in Committee.
Read the report: https://aeur.eu/f/jbq (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)