On Tuesday 14 April, MEPs on the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE) adopted an own-initiative report on the European Commission’s Annual Rule of Law Report 2025 (see EUROPE 13676/27) by 50 votes to 17, with two abstentions.
The text, tabled by Konstantinos Arvanitis (The Left, Greek), criticises the “insufficient” progress made in implementing the Commissions recommendations, 93% of which are renewed from one year to the next.
MEPs also point to a decline in essential democratic guarantees, in particular the independence of the judiciary, which is still being undermined by political intervention in some Member States, and therefore call for “independent, effective and impartial” judicial systems.
Given the limitations in the fight against corruption, MEPs want to see better prosecutions and more accurate monitoring of convictions.
Pressure on the media and civil society was also singled out.
In addition, clearer criteria, precise timetables and greater consistency between the report’s findings and the tools for applying them, including budgetary conditionality, are expected.
However, two compromise amendments were rejected. Compromise 9A aimed to establish an inter-institutional framework supported by an independent body of experts responsible for monitoring the rule of law. Compromise 10A proposed to welcome and encourage the implementation of the inter-institutional ethical body.
The plenary vote is scheduled for the Strasbourg session from 27 to 30 April.
The report (in French): https://aeur.eu/f/ljq
Compromise amendments: https://aeur.eu/f/ljp (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)