Strasbourg

press conference

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

SARVAMAA, Petri (EPP, FI)

GARDIAZABAL RUBIAL, Eider (S&D, ES)

CSEH, Katalin (Renew, HU)

FREUND, Daniel (Greens/EFA, DE)

Press conference on the EU Court ruling on the annulment request by Hungary and Poland: opening statements by Petri SARVAMAA (EPP, FI), Eider GARDIAZABAL RUBIAL (S&D, ES), Katalin CESH (RENEW, HU) and Daniel FREUND (GREENS/EFA, DE)

SOUNDBITE (English), Petri SARVAMAA (EPP, FI), Thank you, dear representatives of the press and dear colleagues, I'm pretty emotionally excited, and when we come to the questions, I will just let it all out. But now I will actually read from the paper first. The last remaining obstacle for the Rule of Law Conditionality regulation has now been removed.

SOUNDBITE (English), Petri SARVAMAA (EPP, FI), The Parliament's message now goes straight to the Commission, and I want to be very clear: it is high time to start implementing the regulation. The clock cannot be restarted again once again to play time. But the Commission must act real fast. The future of the Rule of Law, the protection of most fundamental values of the Union and the protection of the Union's budget now lie in the hands of the European Commission.

SOUNDBITE (English), Petri SARVAMAA (EPP, FI), And I have to say that it's really a shame that the President of the European Commission will not be there this afternoon to debate this. The facts are undisputed. We all know how the rule of law situation has been deteriorating for way too long, not only in Hungary and Poland, but to some extent also in some other member states. We cannot allow this development to continue.

SOUNDBITE (English), Petri SARVAMAA (EPP, FI), The rule of law should be respected in every member state. The MFF and the Next Generation EU will further highlight the importance of the conditionality regulation. The protection of the rule of law was one of the main priorities for the Commission President already in 2019. If we see any more delays on the implementation of this regulation, it will unfortunately send a signal that the Commission is not seriously committed to defending the rule of law.

SOUNDBITE (English), Petri SARVAMAA (EPP, FI), And let me also make this clear on my behalf: any calculation now to run the clock past the Election Day in Hungary would not just miss the point of what should be our first priority to protect the EU budget and sound financial management. But it also would be dangerous. Every day, every week and every month we are stalling with this regulation will benefit the authoritarian regimes in our union.

SOUNDBITE (English), Petri SARVAMAA (EPP, FI), And last but not least, let me also use this opportunity to thank the judges at the European Court of Justice. This was a major case, a key case to the Union, and they delivered a ruling in record time. The court is absolutely the cornerstone of our union because our union is based on law and will only survive if adherence to law is unquestionable.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Eider GARDIAZABAL RUBIAL (S&D, ES), Good morning, everyone, as my colleague Sara Murray has just said, this is a great day. And first of all, I should like to express gratitude to the ECJ for having decided to take this case on, and as quickly as possible. They gave it that far nurture, nature, a case of tremendous importance, and it has been clearly demonstrated that the ECJ should have disregarded the requests put by Hungary and Poland as regards conditionality regulation.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Eider GARDIAZABAL RUBIAL (S&D, ES), I think it's fantastic. Over and beyond disregarding these requests from Poland and Hungary. Let's just look at the arguments used to make the ECJ. They speak first of all of the respect of common values, they speak of solidarity, they speak of trust amongst member states, they speak of the fact that they have respect for common values. It's not just something that old member states have to comply with in order to come into the European Union.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Eider GARDIAZABAL RUBIAL (S&D, ES), But this must continue being part and parcel of the action of member states when they belong to the European Union, and therefore as European Union, we need to have the necessary tools to uphold those values. And of course, they speak of legal certainty and respect of the competences conferred upon the European Union.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Eider GARDIAZABAL RUBIAL (S&D, ES), And therefore, I believe this ruling means a legal endorsement of the position that we have defended as negotiating team on behalf of the European Parliament and also an approval of the very serious conscientious work carried out by all of the community institutions. And to conclude two messages.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Eider GARDIAZABAL RUBIAL (S&D, ES), First of all, the rules of the game are clear, and the only possible path ahead of us is respecting the rule of law and to the European Union has to act now. It's got to make sure that the law is complied with in every single nook and cranny of the European Union. It does have the necessary instruments to make that come true, defending all of the citizens of the European Union, we cannot wait any more action must be taken.

SOUNDBITE (English), Katalin CESH (Renew Europe, HU), xx Today was a historic day. It was a historic judgement, a very clear judgement, also very clearly spelling out those words, which for me reinforce the foundations upon which this Union was built. Too bad that there was at least one person there who clearly didn't read this judgement.

SOUNDBITE (English), Katalin CESH (Renew Europe, HU), This was Hungarian Minister Judith Varga, who just a few minutes ago claimed that the court judgement is obviously about the family law of Hungary and that Brussels still wants to insist on mandatory sex change of Hungarian children so-called LGBTQ lobby. It's just very interesting to hear these statements. Very interesting to see these two parallel realities in which the Hungarian partner is acting in utter defiance of European values and an utter negligence to the institutions and to their common regulations.

SOUNDBITE (English), Katalin CESH (Renew Europe, HU), And on the other hand, we have the Commission who is still politely waiting around and sending letters and expecting the Hungarian partner to act in good faith. I sincerely hope that this day will mark the end of the procrastination from the side of the Commission. I sincerely hope that today will be the day the Commission realises its historic duty and will take on its role as the guardian of the treaties and start to implement existing EU legislation because this legislation is Union law.

SOUNDBITE (English), Katalin CESH (Renew Europe, HU), Since more than a year the Commission was waiting around. Waiting around to look for excuses to look for delays, and thus, in the meantime, the rule of law was destroyed further in Hungary and in Poland, and also other member states might have had the idea that in this Union, they could do anything without any serious repercussions. This has to stop now.

SOUNDBITE (English), Katalin CESH (Renew Europe, HU), This Parliament urges the Commission to start acting without any delays on the implementation of the rule of law conditionality mechanism and to reinforce the foundations upon which this Union was built at, which is the respect of the rule of law. I hope that Hungary cannot be a country without any consequences anymore. And I hope for a strong show of European action in this regard. This action has been long overdue and European citizens are waiting for it.

SOUNDBITE (English), Katalin CESH (Renew Europe, HU), Just as the closing remark, let me tell you a story from the campaign trail. I'm a Hungarian politician. I'm meeting Hungarian citizens every day and whenever I tell them that I work in the European Union very often they ask me that don't your colleagues there realise the troubles that we have here? Don't they see the rampant corruption, the destruction of the rule of law, the abuse of power that our government conducts? Don't they care about it?

SOUNDBITE (English), Katalin CESH (Renew Europe, HU), And it is very hard for me day by day, harder for me every single day to explain what the Commission is doing. So I hope that this commission will live up to its duties and will do a good service to the pro-European citizens who are expecting the commission to stand on their side. Thank you very much.

SOUNDBITE (English), Daniel FREUND (Greens/EFA, DE), The rule of law crisis in the European Union has been getting more severe. Month after month for years now, the four of us negotiated this this rule of law conditionality mechanism. And since it's entered into force more than a year ago, we have been pushing for it to be used. We've pointed it out in resolution after resolution to the Commission on the European Parliament has initiated the court case for inactivity against the Commission.

SOUNDBITE (English), Daniel FREUND (Greens/EFA, DE), So far, no action has been taken. The court has now today taken away the last excuse by the European Commission not to use this mechanism that is legally enforced and has entered into force over a year ago. Now is the time to act to use it. The Commission has sent two letters under the Article six for already late last year to Poland and Hungary. It lays out it shows very well that the Commission has those cases ready. They're good to go.

SOUNDBITE (English), Daniel FREUND (Greens/EFA, DE), There is no further excuse now not to trigger the conditionality mechanism against those two governments. But clearly nowhere in this mechanism does it say this applies unless there is a campaign going on somewhere. Nowhere does it say that you know anything else can influence up. The rule of law needs to be upheld. EU taxpayer money needs to be protected just to say that here, because obviously there is discussions in the house that have started.

SOUNDBITE (English), Daniel FREUND (Greens/EFA, DE), What happens if now still nothing happens on the side of the Commission? What what are the tools at the disposal of of the European Parliament to further increase the pressure on on the commission? Let me just mention two things just because the respective procedures have been have been launched or put on the table.

SOUNDBITE (English), Daniel FREUND (Greens/EFA, DE), Two things that are ongoing. Of course, this one is the discharge procedure of of the European Commission, and the Parliament has potentially well has the right to to delay or to withhold the discharge of the commission. The other avenue is the budget for the Commission for next year, where, as I understand, there is amendments tabled to to cut certain parts of that or to to freeze certain parts of the budget. So those are some of the tools that we have at our disposal if we continue to be ignored, if the pressure coming from the large majority in this House on on the commission continues to be ignored.