On Monday 19 January, the Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI Committee) and the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE Committee) held a joint exchange of views with the European Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection, Michael McGrath, on the future ‘Justice’ programme for the period 2028-2034.
Reintroduced in the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), the programme aims to support the development of an “efficient, inclusive, resilient and digitalised” European judicial area, based on the Rule of law, mutual recognition and trust between Member States. The Commission is proposing an indicative budget of €798 million, compared with €305 million for 2021-2027.
Presenting the proposal, Michael McGrath affirmed the desire to equip the European Union with instruments that can respond to “new and emerging threats” to judicial systems, although he noted a certain continuity with previous programmes.
Strengthening judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters, supporting the training of legal professionals and improving effective and non-discriminatory access to justice for citizens and businesses are the three aims of this programme.
The Commissioner also addressed the indirect contribution of the programme to economic competitiveness, bearing in mind that efficient judicial systems are an essential condition for the proper functioning of the internal market.
The co-rapporteur for the LIBE Committee, Tineke Strik (Greens/EFA, Dutch), recalled that, while the Rule of law is in retreat and attempts at “autocratisation” can be observed in some Member States, the priority must remain the protection of fundamental rights and the independence of the judiciary.
While she welcomed the budget increase and the programme’s general objectives, she questioned an approach to competitiveness that would lead to the simplification of judicial procedures “to the detriment of their precision and rigour”.
The Dutch MEP also singled out the disappearance from the proposed text of a specific article devoted to the promotion of gender equality, children’s rights and juvenile justice, which are now confined to the recitals.
In her opinion, this development risks weakening the concrete consideration given to these priorities in the implementation of the programme. She also condemned the weakening of Parliament’s control role as a result of the disappearance of indicators specific to the programme, the reduction in monitoring obligations and the sidelining of committee procedures.
This analysis was echoed by LIBE co-rapporteur Jaroslav Bžoch (PfE, Czech), who questioned the Commission on the near tripling of the budget and the reduced involvement of Parliament and the Member States in defining funding priorities.
Michael McGrath assured that the inclusion of gender equality and children’s rights in the recitals did not reflect “any change of priority”, but was the result of a desire to simplify and harmonise the budget.
He reiterated that Parliament would retain an oversight role through the annual discharge procedure. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)