Sophie IN 'T VELD (Renew, NL), rapporteur , speaks to the press on Parliament's report on the Commission’s 2023 Rule of Law report. This transcription is the result of an automatic process. Please check against delivery.

Strasbourg

press conference

IN 'T VELD, Sophia (Renew, NL)

EU mechanism on democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights (T)

Press conference by Sophie IN 'T VELD (Renew, NL), rapporteur on Parliament's report on the Commission’s 2023 Rule of Law report

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/75029733/1708934674406_I253514Chapters%5BSD-EN%5D.srt

SOUNDBITE (Original), Sophia IN 'T VELD (Renew, NL), Rapporteur, Thank you very much. I'll try and make remarks which are relevant for all those languages. Thank you for for being here. Today we're going to debate and vote -and most likely adopt- this report, which is the response to the annual rule of law reports to European Commission, which is also a little bit my baby, in a way.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Sophia IN 'T VELD (Renew, NL), Rapporteur, Because, a number of years ago, when we first started to understand the importance of the rule of law and democracy and fundamental rights, when we were having the first experience with Viktor Orban, and in Poland, the PiS government had just been elected. We understood that the European Union has to focus on these issues a lot more.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Sophia IN 'T VELD (Renew, NL), Rapporteur, Since then it has risen very rapidly to the top of the political agenda. And I think if we see the world that we're living in today, the difficulties that we're having, in areas near to the European Union, but also within the European Uni on, the rise of extremist parties... it's very clear that we need a very robust rule of law, that we have to have robust democratic institutions, and a robust protection of fundamental rights.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Sophia IN 'T VELD (Renew, NL), Rapporteur, And sometimes people think that the rule of law is something very abstract and remote. But I think just today, one year after the train crash at Tempi in Greece, we can see how corruption may actually literally kill. And it's always the small people that pay the price. And fighting corruption is a very important part of the rule of law that we are also covering in our reports.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Sophia IN 'T VELD (Renew, NL), Rapporteur, I will at this stage not necessarily go into the details of all the countries, but I think we can see bigger and smaller concerns in most EU member states. There are some member states that we are very concerned about, of course. Hungary. Greece is one that I'm very concerned about. Malta is one that I think we should not lose sight of. Poland may have elected a new government that is firmly committed to the rule of law, but that doesn't mean that the damage can be easily undone or that everything is fine.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Sophia IN 'T VELD (Renew, NL), Rapporteur, But we also see in other member states maybe concerns which are less systemic, but still serious when we're looking at issues like discrimination and police violence, and media pluralism, media freedom. We can see that free media are increasingly under pressure everywhere. Independence of the judiciary and the prosecutors is a very important issue in many countries.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Sophia IN 'T VELD (Renew, NL), Rapporteur, So those are some of the issues that we have looked at. I have to say I'm, on the one hand, a bit concerned about developments we see in the European Union, but I'm also encouraged by seeing that there are also countries, which can serve as an example. We have high hopes for Poland. Slovenia is another one. Bulgaria is also a country which is often overlooked, but where we can see some first signs of a rule of law spring. It's fragile, but it's definitely there.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Sophia IN 'T VELD (Renew, NL), Rapporteur, But also the fact that this issue is now so high on the European political agenda, I think is a good thing, because for all its shortcomings, I think the European Union can and should play a very important role in supporting all the forces in the member states that are fighting for democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights.

Q&amp;A, Questions regarding the situation of the rule of law in Italy and Renew Europe's organisation in Italy in preparation for the European elections.

Q&amp;A, Question regarding the use of spyware, the work of the PEGA committee and the case of Greece.

Q&amp;A, Question regarding the rule of law in Hungary in light of recent developments.

Q&amp;A, Question regarding the inclusion in the report of the train accident in Greece.

Q&amp;A, Question regarding the report's calls to assign responsibility for the application of rule of law conditions to the commissioners responsible for the rule of law, instead of national authorities.