5 Amendments of Brando BENIFEI related to 2021/2180(INI)
Amendment 15 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Recalls that important elements of Parliament’s resolutions of 25 October 2016 and of 7 October 2020 on the establishment of an EU mechanism on democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights are still missing, in particular the panel of independent experts, widening the scope of the monitoring to include all values set out under Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU), and the negotiation of an interinstitutional agreement for the establishment of an annual monitoring cycle; invites the Commission to better integrate the EU Justice Scoreboard in the annual rule of law report and to include in the next editions an assessment of how the right to a fair trial is guaranteed in Member States, with particular attention paid to the right of defence, the protection of victims of crimes, the fight against impunity, equality between prosecution and defence parties, and the length of court proceedings; calls on the Commission to also include in its next annual reports an evaluation of prison conditions, judicial backlogs, and the average duration of trials in all Member States;
Amendment 27 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Calls for the inclusion of an overview per Member State of all enforcement actions related to the rule of law undertaken by the Commission, including pending infringement proceedings, as well as the state of compliance with Court of Justice of the European Union and European Court of Human Rights rulings, feeding into a comprehensive Application of EU Law Scoreboard;
Amendment 30 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls on the Commission to conclude each country chapter with a ‘traffic light’ assessment of the fulfilment of the conditions of the Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation (Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2092); situation in each Member State with regards to the four pillars analysed by the Report and, more broadly, of each Member State’s compliance with the values enshrined in Article 2 TEU; believes that such a ‘traffic light’ system could be useful to connect the annual report to the EU’s instruments to prevent and counter violations of the rule of law and, for example, to evaluate whether the conditions to activate the Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation (Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2092) are fulfilled; regrets that the Commission has not yet made full-use of this tool and asks the Commission to fully and proactively enforce it without delay with regard to all EU funds and programmes; recalls the Advocate General’s Opinions on Cases C- 156/21 and C-157/21, according to which the regime of conditionality was adopted on an appropriate legal basis, is compatible with Article 7 TEU and respects the principle of legal certainty;1a _________________ 1a Advocate General’s Opinion in Case C- 156/21 and Case C-157/21 Hungary v Parliament and Council; Poland v Parliament and Council
Amendment 35 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. WBelcomes Commission proposalsieves that the report should go beyond monitoring and include country- specific recommendations regarding preventive and corrective actions that must be adopted by the Member States concerned, with a clear outline of enforcement measures and concrete proposals to tackle violations in the case of non-compliance; takes note, to this end, of the President of the European Commission’s commitment to include country-specific recommendations as of 2022,2a as per Parliament’s resolution of 25 October 2016; calls on the Commission to monitor and report on their implementation; _________________ 2a 2021 State of the Union Address by President Ursula von der Leyen, 15 September 2021
Amendment 59 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Calls on the Council to discuss the report in all transparency and engage in dialogue with the European Parliament; calls on the European Council, too, to discuss the findings of the report, as the values of Article 2 TEU are a matter to be addressed at the highest political level; notes with concern that the failure to apply Article 7 TEU enables continued divergence from the values enshrined in Article 2 TEU and weakens one of the most important instruments of the Union’s rule of law toolbox; welcomes therefore the hearings and general discussion respectively held at the General Affairs Council meetings of 22 June 2021 and 14 December 2021, and takes note of the French presidency’s commitment to hold formal hearings in the first half of 2022; underlines, however, that unanimity is not required to vote on Council recommendations nor to determine whether there is a clear risk of a serious breach by a Member State of Article 2 TEU values, and urges the presidency of the Council to take the appropriate steps to move forward with the ongoing procedures under Article 7(1) TEU; reiterates, finally, its call for Parliament to be able to present its reasoned proposal to the Council, to attend hearings, in particular when Parliament has initiated the procedure, and to be kept promptly and fully informed at every stage, including its respective parliamentary committees involved in the procedure.