MEPs review the latest events regarding democracy and fundamental rights in Hungary and Poland, and the EU’s action to protect its shared values. Following the debate with the Commission, plenary vote on a resolution assessing the ongoing process of hearings in the Council with both countries, under Article 7 of the EU Treaty. Opening statement by Didier REYNDERS, European Commissioner for Justice.

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

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

EU - Poland (T)

joint debate

EU - Hungary (T)

European Commission

REYNDERS, Didier (BE, EC)

Ongoing hearings under Article 7(1) TEU regarding Poland and Hungary: opening statement by Didier REYNDERS, European Commissioner for Justice

SOUNDBITE (French), Didier REYNDERS, European Commissioner for Justice Thank you, President. Honourable members, I would like to thank you for having placed this particular point regarding the Article seven procedures against Poland and Hungary on the agenda. Again, for this plenary, as you know, the commission considers that it is important to maintain the Article seven procedures on the council's agenda. And the commission is obviously at the disposal of the council in order to support the council when it comes to hearings or taking stock of how far we have got.

SOUNDBITE (French), Didier REYNDERS, European Commissioner for Justice And it's in this spirit that we do very much appreciate that we can hold this debate together with you in plenary today. If we could turn to Poland, as you know, there has been a fifth hearing under the Article seven procedure. It took place on the 22nd of February last before the General Affairs Council. The commissioner informed counsel of developments that have taken place over the past few months, in particular, a certain number of rulings from the Polish Constitutional Tribunal, which questioned the foundations of the union's legal order. And this has led us to introduce an infringement procedure before the Court of Justice, not only regarding the question of the primacy of European Union law, but also when it comes to the non independence of the Constitutional Tribunal Tribunal. And the commission has also informed the council of a number of recent rulings from the European Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights, which have confirmed the concerns that the commission has regarding the rule of law in Poland, and in particular when it comes to the independence of the judiciary, in particular of the Constitutional Court Tribunal. The commission can only conclude that the situation in Poland continues to give rise to very serious concerns. And over the past few weeks, we've seen a number of legislative developments concerning amendments to...

SOUNDBITE (English), Didier REYNDERS, European Commissioner for Justice Towards reforming the disciplinary regime. for judges in Poland is a positive step. Yet what will eventually matter is the extent to which the legislation, as Fidel finally adopted by the Polish parliament, if it's possible to go to the final adoption, will address the requirements set out at the Court of Justice by the Court of Justice in its ruling of 14 and 15 July last year. I also note that last week the Polish government put forward two draught laws to see that seek to fundamentally change the structure of the ordinary judiciary, including by changing the structure of courts and by transferring judges. We understand that these draught laws are now subject to public consultations. Let me underline in that respect that any new legislation concerning the judiciary must comply with the requirements of EU law on judicial independence, taking into account European standards and the caseload of European Court of Justice in this regard. The Commission will continue to follow closely the legislative developments in that respect. And you know that it's in line with some decisions of the Court of Justice, including decisions about interim measures and including decision about a fine of one million euro per day if there i...

SOUNDBITE (English), Didier REYNDERS, European Commissioner for Justice And we all know where the total amount of more than 160 million euros with such a fine detail, a possible positive evolution in Poland as regards the situation in Hungary, the Commission has had the opportunity to explain on different occasions that it shares an important number of concerns expressed by European Parliament in its recent opinion and proposal, triggering the Article seven procedure. The Commission has also made very clear that whatever position the council will be taking on the Article seven, it must ensure a fair handling of the recent proposal tabled by Parliament. The commission stressed this again in the Council of 14 December last year during a state of play point on the situation in Hungary. Hungary's false hearing under the Article seven procedure has been scheduled for the meeting of the Council of the Twenty Third of May. We appreciate that the French presidency has included this hearing in the council's agenda. In addition to the Article seven procedures, the Commission, as I said, all the instrumen...

SOUNDBITE (English), Didier REYNDERS, European Commissioner for Justice One of these is the rule of law, conditionality, regulation of financial instruments. We have to protect the EU budget and financial interests against breaches to the rule of law. As underlined by the Court of Justice last week, the commission sends a written notification to Hungary under the conditionality regulation. The Commission has identified a number of rule of law issues, including corruption related that constitute reasonable grounds for the launch of the procedure. Under the general regime of conditionality, Indeed, these issues affect all seriously risk affecting the sound financial management of the union budget or the protection of the financial interests of the union in a sufficiently direct way. The identity issues, together with the Long Standing Commission recommendations and requests to address them, combined with the lack of measures to address the identified issues in a structured manner over time, are indicative of a serious risk for sound financial management of the union budget and for the protection of the union's financial interest. And Gary can now submit observation on the findings in the written notification. Within two months, it also proposed the adoption of remedial measures to address the findings, such as written notification is the first formal step of a procedure set by the Conditionality Regulation, which establishes exchanges between the commission and the member state concerned with the view to address the findings of the commission and to protect the union budget throughout the procedure. Hungary has the possibility to submit remedial measures. We continue, of course, to monitor the situation in all the other member state...

SOUNDBITE (French), Didier REYNDERS, European Commissioner for Justice The Commission will not doubt either to initiate infringement proceedings in order to respond to the concerns linked to respect of the rule of law in the case of Hungary. The Commission has already launched several in arrangement proceedings that linked to respect of the unions values. For example, when it comes to the rights of organ, of reorganisation of civil society, academic freedom, the rights of migrants and asylum seekers, freedom of the press and the rights of LGBTQ people. When it comes to the situation in Poland, I had already I've already said that last December the commission decided to launch a new infringement proceedings against Poland concerning the Polish Constitutional Tribunal and its recent case law, which has expressly questioned the primacy of the European Union law. And we've also added doubts about the independence of this tribunal, which had alr...

SOUNDBITE (English), Didier REYNDERS, European Commissioner for Justice Such as the European Semester, to promote and uphold the rule of law in 2019. The Council, following the Commission's proposal recommended to Hungary to reinforce its anticorruption framework and to strengthen judicial independence in 2020. The Council recommended to Poland to enhance the investment climate, in particular by safeguarding judicial independence. When assessing the National Recovery and Resilience plans, the commission verifies whether they are expected to contribute to effectively addressing all or in a significant subset of challenges identified in the relevant Country-Specific recommendations. Moreover, in July, the commission will publish its third annual Rule of Law Report. And you know that for the first time, the report, which will include recommendations. These recommendations will help member states to focus their Follow-Up on the key issues, including on justice, anti-corruption, media, freedom and checks and balances. They should also help and support member states in their efforts to...

SOUNDBITE (French), Didier REYNDERS, European Commissioner for Justice And conclude. to I do very much regret honourable members that I am not in a position today to be able to report back to you about positive trends when it comes to the rule of law in Poland and Hungary. I can only hope that the ongoing procedures under Article seven will and the other procedures I referred to will allow the Polish and Hungarian authorities to give some thought to the way in which they are going to respond to the concerns that have been expressed. I once again wish to thank the French presidency for having kept the proceedings under Article seven against Poland and Hungary on the council's agenda. And obviously we will continue to come before the General Affairs Council to report back I when the points are on the agenda. And I have already announced the fact that at the end of the month we are going to be addressing Hungary. And obviously this is what we've always done when it comes to the procedures that have been triggered and will continue to do so until the legal systems, judicial systems are in Poland and Hungary m...