Activities of Sira REGO related to 2021/2180(INI)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on the Commission’s 2021 Rule of Law report
Amendments (11)
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Emphasises the important role of the Committee on Petitions in identifying and flagging possible breaches of the rule of law, taking into account the numerous petitions received from citizens concerned about breaches of the rule of law in several Member States; strongly believes that full protection of all EU citizens can only be ensured throughout the Union if all Member States comply with all principles of the rule of law; and the other values enshrined in Article 2 TEU.
Amendment 25 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Points to the high amount of petitions1 in relation to the impact and challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic; calls for an investigation intoon the Commission to continue assessing in its future reports whether COVID-19-related measures were limited in time and whether their necessity and proportionality was justified; requests an assessment of, as well as the checks and balances during the pandemic, especially give; notes with concern that courts in several Member States have already ruled that certain measures were not consistent with the national constitution; underlines the need to have a clear legal regime in place before a crisis, so that respect for the rule of law and for fundamental rights can be guaranteed; _________________ 1 Petitions No 1438/2020, 1469/2020, 1493/2020, 1501/2020, 0038/2021, 0046/2021, 0053/2021, 0106/2021, 0152/2021, 0186/2021 and 0533/2021.
Amendment 31 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Notes that emergency regimes and decree-laws were urgently instated by governments in several Member States because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and that this has affected the functioning of the national justice systems and the activity of the courts; draws attention to the lack of participation and the non-involvement of national parliaments in the decision- making and the closure of parliaments during the pandemic in some Member States, which has increased the power of governments and has led to a lack of accountability and transparency; welcomes the fact that some Member States restored strengthened parliamentary oversight after an initial period where this was curtailed.
Amendment 40 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. IReiterates its deeply concerned about the status of Poland’s lack of independence of the illegitimate "Constitutional Tribunal" of Poland, the close connection between prosecutors and the government (in particular the Public Prosecutor General/Minister of Justice) and the complete disregard for not only EU law requirements, but also European Convention on Human Rights and Polish Constitutional requirements2 ; is further concerned about the impartiality of the judiciary in Hungary3 and the independencereiterates that the illegitimate "Constitutional tribunal" was also used politically to attack women's rights in its ruling of 22 October 2020 (K1/20) and denounces that the severe restrictions on women's reproductive health and rights are unlawful; is further concerned about the impartiality of the judiciary in Spain4 ;Hungary3. _________________ 2 Petitions No 0559/2020, 1154/2020, 1246/2020, 1360/2020 and 0869/2021. 3 Petition No 1512/2020. 4 Petitions No 1180/2020, 1182/2020, 1326/2020, 1367/2020, 1561/2020 and 0353/2021.
Amendment 47 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Stresses the indispensability of enforcing court sentences, both at national, EU and EUinternational level; and condemns all national and regional governments on EU territory that refuse to follow judgmentsthe lack of compliance with judgments of the CJEU and of national courts by the public authorities concerned ; emphasises that sentences of the Court of Justice of the European Union have to be implemented in a timely manner and as soon as possible in accordance with the Treaties, which the Member States agreed to comply with5 ; _________________ 5 Petition No 0858/2017; stresses that judgments from the European Court of Human Rights are binding on the states concerned and many Member States regularly fail to implement them; reiterates its call on the Commission to include in the country chapters data on non-compliance with judgments of the European Court of Human Rights as assessed by the Committee of Ministers.
Amendment 60 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Expresses its concern about the securiafety of whistleblowers who report acts of corruption7 or other illegal activities8 and thereupon experience violations of their fundamental rights; _________________ 7 Petition No 0242/2021. 8 Petition No 1056/2021.
Amendment 65 #
11. Regrets the fact that that the safety of journalists is not universally guaranteedguaranteed across the European Union; underlines the importance of media pluralism and the need to protect journalists against threats and attacks in order to assure freedom of expression and the right to information and safeguard the journalistic profession;
Amendment 77 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Observes that fake news and the resulting misinformation aimed at EU citizens are a threat to ourhave an impact on EU democracies10 ; notes, however, that overly extensive control of false information and the increased promotion of disinformation campaigns may lead to a violation of Article 11(1) of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights which guarantees the right to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authorities and regardless of borders11 ; _________________ 10 Petitions No 1310/2019, 0268/2020, 0743/2020 and 1293/2020. 11 Petition No 1336/2020.
Amendment 83 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Is concerned about the increase in hate crimes against minorities, in particular those related to religious beliefs, political ideas and sexual orientation12 ; is aware of the difficult balance between hate speech and freedom of expression and acknowledges that the boundarspeech and hate crimes against women, black people and people of colour, migrants and refugees, LGTBIQ people 12 and minorities, in particular Roma, those related to religious beliefs are hard to definend political ideas ; _________________ 12 Petitions No 0354/2020, 0657/2020, 1038/2020, 0471/2021, 0480/2021, 0667/2021, 0704/2021, 0725/2021, 0820/2021, 0855/2021 and 0894/2021.
Amendment 95 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Stresses that the findings of the Rule of Law report should be operationalised in concrete policy actions and that the report should only serve conjointly with other instruments, such as infringement procedures, the procedures enshrined in the Conditionality Regulation13 , the rule of law framework and Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union; urges the Commission to use its tools more effectively and in a timely manner; asks the Commission to introduce deadlines for the recommendations based on the upcoming Rule of Law reports; _________________ 13 Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2092 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2020 on a general regime of conditionality for the protection of the Union budget, OJ L 433I , 22.12.2020, p. 1.
Amendment 103 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16 a. 16a (new) Proposes the creation of a "Citizen's Platform on the Rule of Law", a digital platform hosted by the European Parliament, which would enable citizens to report and share their experience of rule of law deficiencies, vulnerabilities and breaches; believes that this platform would be in line with the objectives et out in Article 11(1) TEU and with European Parliament's vocation to act asa bridge with citizens, as it would give them the opportunity to exchange experiences and views with each other, as well as create an accessible public forum whereby individual and collective testimonies can be directly shared and made visible to those monitoring the rule of law and the rest of the values enshrined in Article 2 TEU, such as the EU institutions, lawyers, civil society organisations, watchdogs, journalists, and researchers; highlights that there would be no obligation for the European Parliament to act on these testimonies, but the platform would provide deeper understanding of individual citizen's concerns, enable greater visibility of the threats to, deficiencies and breaches of the values enshrined in Article 2 TEU across the Union, and ultimately strengthen the rule of law culture and the engagement of EU institutions with citizens; suggests that it could also provide information to create petitions for those reporting on the same issue;