Activities of Clare DALY related to 2021/2180(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Commission’s 2021 Rule of Law Report (debate)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the Commission’s 2021 Rule of Law Report
Amendments (24)
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 21 a (new)
Citation 21 a (new)
— having regard to its resolution of 8 October 2020 on the rule of law and fundamental rights in Bulgaria1b, _________________ 1b Texts adopted, P9_TA(2020)0264
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 21 b (new)
Citation 21 b (new)
— having regard to its resolution of 26 November 2020 on the situation of Fundamental Rights in the European Union - Annual Report for the years 2018 - 20191a, _________________ 1a Texts adopted, P9_TA(2021)0512
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 31 a (new)
Citation 31 a (new)
— having regard to the judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 16 February 2022 in cases C- 156/21 Hungary v Parliament and Council and C-157/21 Poland v Parliament and Council,
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the Union is founded on the common values enshrined in Article 2 TEU of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities (Article 2 TEU values) – values that are common to the EU Member States and to which candidate countries must adhere in order to join the Union; whereas democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights are mutually reinforcing values which, when undermined, may pose a systemic threat to the Union and the rights and freedoms of its citizens;
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas without effective follow- up, the rule of law report may fail to prevent, detect and effectively and timely address systemic challenges and backsliding on the rule of law, as witnessed in several EU Member Statesacross the EU in recent years;
Amendment 110 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Welcomes the Commission’s second annual rule of law report; regrets the fact that the Commission did not address in full the recommendations made by Parliament in its resolution of 24 June 2021 on the Commission’s 2020 Rule of Law Report, in particular the expansion of the scope of its reporting to cover all values enshrined in Article 2 TEU, the differentiation between systemic and individual breaches, and a more in-depth, transparent assessment; considers that these recommendations remain valid and reiterates them;
Amendment 122 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Welcomes the fact that the functioning of justice systems, the anti- corruption framework, media pluralism and certain institutional issues related to checks and balances, including civic space to a certain extent, are all part of the Commission’s annual report; regrets, however, that not all rule of law issues were covered in sufficient detail nor breadth in the 2021 report; calls for the inclusion in the annual report of other important elements of the Venice Commission’s 2016 Rule of Law Checklist; believes that civic space deserves a separate subheading in the reportsuggests that the Commission analyses rule of law issues in each pillar in line with all the values enshrined in Article 2 TEU, especially fundamental rights; calls for the inclusion in the annual report of other important elements of the Venice Commission’s 2016 Rule of Law Checklist, such as the prevention of abuse of powers, equality before the law and non-discrimination and aspects of the right to a fair trial; believes that civic space deserves a separate subheading in the report given its central importance of maintaining a fully democratic and inclusive society and of providing protection for minorities;
Amendment 144 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Notes with satisfaction that the report contains country-specific chapters; commends the Commission’s efforts to engage with national governments and national parliaments, as well as civil society and other national actors; proposes that the Commission publishes the input documents they receive from national governments so as to enable experts and civil society groups to fact-check them and to ensure full transparency; encourages the Commission to devote greater efforts to deepening the analysis, and invites the Commission to ensure proper resources for thatis in a bid to attain outreach to a wide and diverse range of stakeholders; believes that more time should be devoted to the Commission’s country visits, including on site;
Amendment 159 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Welcomes the fact that all Member States are scrutinised according to the same indicators and methodologymethodology; reinforces the need to put equal scrutiny on systemic vulnerabilities across all Member States; calls on the Commission to elaborate on its indicators used to assess the Member States' rule of law; emphasises that presenting deficiencies or breaches of a different nature or intensity risks trivialising the most serious breaches of the rule of law; urges the Commission to differentiate its reporting by distinguishing between systemic breaches of the rule of law and isolated breaches;
Amendment 171 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Regrets the fact that the report fails to clearly recognise the deliberate process of the rule of law backsliding in Poland and Hungarymany Member States over different periods and by different levels of authority, from the executive level through procedures such as fast-tracking laws in periods of state emergencies, to the local level such as pervasive abuse by policing authorities; calls on the Commission to make clear that when the Article 2 TEU values are being deliberately, gravely, permanently and systematically violated over a period of time, Member States could fail to fulfil all the criteria that define a democracy and become authoritarian regimes;
Amendment 178 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Regrets the fact that several Member States, in particular Hungary and Poland, had to be mentioned several times by the Commission as points of concern in the synthesis report; recalls that since June 2021 Parliament has also addressed the rule of law situation in Hungary, Poland and Slovenia in its plenary resolutions; further recalls that Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs’ Democracy, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights Monitoring Group has also addressed similar issues in Bulgaria, Greece, Malta, Slovakia and Slovenia; stresses that after having conducted several ad-hoc delegations to some of these Member States, the situation of the rule of law, democracy and fundamental rights is far worse than that exposed by the Commission in its report; believes that in order to better identify the backsliding countries the Commission should carry out a more comprehensive assessment of the same elements in all country chapters; recalls that it has criticised the partial account carried out by the Commission in some of these Member States and that it has called for real action and for making effective use of all the tools it has come up with in recent years;
Amendment 186 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Recalls that in some circumstances, Member States deliberately resorted to measures which question the principle of the rule of law, such as legislation adopted in fast track procedures without public consultations or even, in exceptional cases, constitutional changes as a way to legitimise discriminatory policies that could otherwise not be legislated upon, such as provisions that specifically aim at LGBTIQ persons; recalls the Member States have a responsibility towards citizens in condition of vulnerability and should provide them with safety and protection from discrimination;
Amendment 202 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Considers that the 2021 report could have provided clearer assessments, stating whether there were deficiencies, a risk of a serious breach or an actual breach of Article 2 TEU values in each of the pillars analysed in the country chapters; calls for a more integrated analysis on the interlinkages between the four pillars and of how combined deficiencies may amount to breaches or risks of a breach; reiterates the importance of using direct, unambiguous language, and to clearly underline the issue at hand in line with Commission's position;
Amendment 240 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Underlines its concern at the fact that women and people in vulnerable situations, including persons with disabilities, children, religious minorities, particularly at a time of rising antisemitism and anti-Muslim hatred in Europe, Romani people and other persons belonging to ethnic and linguistic minorities, migrants, asylum seekers, refugees, LGBTI+ persons and elderly people, continue to see their rights not being fully respected across the Union; emphasises the obvious link between deteriorating rule of law standards and violations of fundamental rights and minority rights, such as the use of excessive force by law enforcement authorities during protests and at the EU borders, the lack of guarantees and due process for detainees, incitation of hatred by political actors, the increase in the authorities’ powers to carry out mass surveillance and bulk collection of intercepted data, and restrictions imposed on civil society organisations receiving foreign funding or based on their religious affiliation;
Amendment 247 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Underlines its concern at the fact that women and people in vulnerable situations, including persons with disabilities, children, religious minorities, particularly at a time of rising antisemitism and anti-Muslim hatred in Europe, Romani people and other persons belonging to ethnic and linguistic minorities, migrants, asylum seekers, refugees, LGBTI+Q persons and elderly people, continue to see their rights not being fully respected across the Union; emphasises the obvious link between deteriorating rule of law standards and violations of fundamental rights and minority rights; recalls its recommendation from 2020 for future reports to assess the effect that hate crime and hate speech have on discrimination;
Amendment 253 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Welcomes the infringement procedures initiated by the Commission against Hungary and Poland as part of the July 2021 infringement package concerning the respect for the human rights of LGBTIQ persons and breaches of EU law, which constitute the first time the Commission has specifically initiated infringements to safeguard their rights;
Amendment 263 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Calls on the Commission to strengthen the regular, inclusive and structured dialogue with governments and national parliaments, NGOs, national human rights institutions, ombudspersons, equality bodies, professional associations and other stakeholders; considers that civil society organisations should be closely involved in all phases of the review cycle; encourages the Commission to seek a deeper understanding of individual citizen's concerns and testimonies of rule of law deficiencies; highlights that thematically structured consultations would make the process more efficient and increase the amount of valuable feedback; stresses that the consultation questionnaire should allow stakeholders to report aspects beyond the scope envisaged by the Commission;
Amendment 278 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Considers that the time limits for consultation with civil society is often too short and should be suitably adapted and flexible in order to allow for complete and comprehensive input; points out that this has made it more difficult for stakeholders to prepare and plan their contributions and awareness-raising activities, in particular if the consultation coincides with winter holidays; calls on the Commission to allow multilingual submissions; notes that consultation can be improved by ensuringencourages the Commission to follow-up with civil society actors on the input they provide where useful, and when initiated by stakeholders;
Amendment 282 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15a. 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 objective set out in Article 11(1) TEU and with European Parliament's vocation to act as a bridge with citizens, as it would give citizens 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 engagement of EU institutions with citizens; suggests that it could also provide information to create petitions for those reporting on the same issue;
Amendment 286 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Recalls that the Commission must take into account relevant information from pertinent sources and recognised institutions; recalls that the findings of relevant international bodies, such as those under the auspices of the UN, the OSCE and the Council of Europe, are of crucial importance; believes that EFRIS is a useful source of information in this regard; additionally encourages the Commission to take better account of the data and findings from relevant indices such as the Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) project, the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index or the Varieties of Democracy (V-DEM) project;
Amendment 296 #
17a. Calls on the Commission to be more transparent on the criteria they use to select information from civil society, international bodies, national authorities, and other stakeholders in the process of their rule of law reporting;
Amendment 306 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18a. Stresses that the non- implementation of domestic and international court judgments leads to human rights violations that are left without remedy and that are possibly even recurring; highlights also that it creates a perception in the public that judgments can be disregarded, undermining the independence of the judiciary and the general trust in the force of fair adjudication, especially when state agencies are the ones that defy compliance with the judgments handed down by their own domestic courts, or when states start to tear up the fabric of international agreements by not complying with the judgments of international courts;
Amendment 345 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Recalls that infringement procedures are the core instrument to protect and defend EU law and the common values enshrined in Article 2 TEU; notes with concern that the number of infringement procedures launched by the Commission has plummeted since 2004; is surprised by the fact that infringement procedures are not triggered systematically as soon as the relevant infringement is documented in the annual report; deplores the Commission’s reluctance to exhaust the possibilities of infringement procedures against Member States as the instrument most tailored to resolve the issues efficiently and without delay; notes that this reluctance resulted in calls on Member States to initiate inter- State cases in accordance with Article 259 TFEU; is concerned that without systematic and timely application the preventive capacity of infringement procedures declines;
Amendment 361 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 a (new)
Paragraph 24 a (new)
24a. Is concerned about the Commission’s 2021 Rule of Law report’s findings that, in some countries, the state- sponsored harassment and intimidation of the LGBTIQ organisations affects their ability to access funding; calls on the Commission to assess the issue more closely and to ensure through the necessary means that the non- discrimination principle governing access to EU funds is fully complied with everywhere in the EU; considers that these findings reinforce the long-standing position of the Parliament that the scope of the Rule of Law report should be broadened to include all Article 2 TEU values;