21 Amendments of Lukas MANDL related to 2022/2898(RSP)
Amendment 9 #
Citation 19 a (new)
— having regard to the report of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights of 10 September 2020 on Anti-Semitism: Overview of anti- Semitic incidents recorded in the European Union,
Amendment 37 #
Recital D
D. whereas the addition of concrete and legally binding country-specific recommendations would help Member States to prevent, detect and address systemic challenges and backsliding on the rule of law;
Amendment 44 #
Recital F
F. whereas it is necessary to strengthen and streamline existing mechanisms and to develop a single comprehensive EU mechanism to protect democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights effectively and to ensure that Article 2 TEU values are upheld throughout the Union as well as bypromoted among candidate countries, albeit with different monitoring regimes, so that Member States are prevented from developing domestic law that runs counter to the protection of Article 2 TEU; whereas the Commission and the Council have continued to dismiss the need for an interinstitutional agreement on an EU mechanism on democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights;
Amendment 50 #
Paragraph 1
1. Welcomes the Commission’s third annual rule of law report as part of the Commission’s rule of law toolbox; considers that while the report represents a step towards a coherent mechanism to preserve Union values, the toolbox remains too flexible and too broad an approach to the rule of law enshrined in Article 2 TEU, and that the key challenge now is to make use of existing toolbox to protect and enforce those values;
Amendment 56 #
Paragraph 2
2. Notes somconsiderable improvements compared to previous annual reports, such as the addition of country-specific recommendations; notes also the special attention paid to the public service media and to measures to ensure the transparency of media ownership, including the Media Pluralism Monitor ranking, the assessment of the implementation of the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights by the Member States, the attention paid to political party financing, the focus on equality bodies, national human rights institutions and ombudspersons, the monitoring of high-level appointments in the justice system and the increased attention paid to the legal profession, including judges, notaries and attorneys;
Amendment 58 #
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Urges the Commission to actively participate in public debates at local, regional and national level and to invest more into awareness-raising about the Union values and applicable tools, including the annual report, especially in those countries where there are serious concerns; encourages the Commission to devote greater efforts to deepening the analysis, and invites the Commission to ensure proper resources for that; believes that more time should be devoted to the Commission’s country visits, including onsite;
Amendment 60 #
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2b. Calls on the Council and the Commission to provide adequate funding for an independent and European-wide, national, regional an d local quality journalism that investigates in particular where violations and shortcomings have been identified;
Amendment 61 #
Paragraph 2 c (new)
2c. Calls on the Commission to launch a dedicated programme that supports innovative initiatives with the aim of promoting formal and informal education with regard to the rule of law and democratic institutions among EU citizens of all ages, in particular among legal professionals;
Amendment 62 #
Paragraph 2 d (new)
2d. Regrets worrying trends with respect to freedom of the press, media pluralism and safety of journalists in several member states and calls on the Commission to closely monitor situation of the media in future editions of the report, as well as to provide recommendations and follow up through adequate policy and legal measures; expresses serious concern about the impunity afforded to Maltese high public officials implicated in corruption and money laundering that was reported by murdered investigative Daphne Caruana Galizia; affirms that journalists will be at risk as long as institutions remain unable to or unwilling to prosecute corruption exposed by journalists; expresses concern about an attempt by the government of Slovenia to change media law in an urgent procedure without sufficient public debate and consultation, thereby undermining confidence in the independence of public broadcaster;
Amendment 63 #
Paragraph 2 e (new)
2e. Stresses the special role national councils of judiciary play in protecting independence of courts and judges against political interference; deplores the continued politicisation of those bodies in Poland and Hungary as well as the devastating effect this has on the independence and integrity of their justice systems; strongly regrets the inability of the government in Spain to renew the General Council of Judiciary, which compromises its ability to perform its tasks effectively, and undermines the stability of the judiciary as a whole;
Amendment 64 #
Paragraph 2 f (new)
2f. Acknowledges the important role of European Public Prosecutor Office (EPPO) in guarding the rule of law and anti-corruption in the Union, and encourages the Commission to closely monitor the level of cooperation of member states with EPPO in subsequent reports; calls on the member states who have not done so yet to join the EPPO;
Amendment 65 #
Paragraph 2 g (new)
2g. Points out that the prosecution service is a key element in fighting crime, corruption and abuse of power; stresses the need for safeguards to be put in place to ensure the independence of the prosecution service and individual prosecutors so that they are free from undue political pressure, especially from the government, while meeting necessary conditions of accountability to prevent abuse of negligence; expresses its solidarity and support to all victims of crime;
Amendment 68 #
Paragraph 3
3. Deplores the fact that the Commission did notWelcomes improvements in the report and calls on the Commission to take further steps to address in full the recommendations made by Parliament in its previous resolutions24 ; _________________ 24 Resolutions of 24 June 2021 on the Commission’s 2020 Rule of Law Report and of 19 May 2022 on the Commission’s 2021 Rule of Law Report.
Amendment 73 #
Paragraph 5
5. Highlights that the intentional targeting of minority groups’ rights in some Member States has created and established momentum elsewhere, as can be evidenced by backtracking on the rights of women, including a deterioration in the situation in relation to sexual and reproductive health and rights, and of LGBTIQ+ persons, migrants and other minority groups; calls for a summary of the implementation of the EU anti-racism action plan in the report’s country chapters and an analysis of how the backlash in the rule of law affects different minority groups;
Amendment 74 #
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Calls on the Commission to include country chapters of all candidate and potential candidate countries to EU enlargement with an in-depth analysis on their justice systems, anti-corruption frameworks, on media freedom and pluralism, as well as on institutional checks and balances;
Amendment 79 #
Paragraph 6
6. Welcomes the addition of country- specific recommendations, as a follow up to the reiterated calls from Parliament and civil society to this end; recalls that the annual reports serve as a basis for informed discussions on the rule of law situation in Member States and in EU institutions; acknowledges that these country- specific recommendations help to target specific issues with a view to achieving real improvements in Member States; deplores, however, the fact that the recommendations are not binding; calls on the Commission to develop the annual rule of law cycle further by assessing the implementation of the country-specific recommendations in the next annual report, with specific benchmarks and a clear timeline for implementation;
Amendment 91 #
Paragraph 9
9. Commends the efforts by the Commission to engage better with national stakeholders; recognises civil society as an essential actor for the rule of law, with an important role to play in the follow-up to the annual report and its implementation; calls on the Commission to pursue the consistent involvement of civil society in the follow-up to the report at national level, including in cooperation with the FRA;
Amendment 92 #
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Acknowledges the crucial role civil society and healthy civic space play for upholding and protecting the rule of law and reiterates its call to dedicate a separate chapter to the condition of civil society in Member States; calls on the Commission to monitor the impact of the Citizens Equality Rights and Values programme on the civil society in Member States;
Amendment 98 #
Paragraph 11
11. Regrets the absence of country- specific recommendations relatedIs extremely concerned about the risks to Mdember States’ unlawful use of surveillance spyware technologies, such as Pegasocracy, the rule of law and respect for fundamental rights posed by alleged abuse or Predator, in spite of the concrete revelations on, and increasing evidence of, their use againstf spyware by some national governments, which reportedly targeted journalists, politicians, law enforcement officials, diplomats, lawyers, business people, civil society actors and other actors; is extremely concerned about the related risks to civil society, democracy, the rule of law and respect for fundamental rights posed by national governments’ uncontrolled use of spyware; regrets the lack of cooperation by some Member States’ authorities with Parliament’s Committee of Inquiry to investigate the use of Pegasus and equivalent surveillance spyware;
Amendment 104 #
Paragraph 12
12. Reiterates its call on the Commission to expand the scope of its reporting to cover all values enshrined in Article 2 TEU; reiterates thethe existence of ab intrinsic link between the rule of law, democracy and fundamental rights; urges the Commission and the Council to immediately enter into negotiations with Parliament on an interinstitutional agreement on an EU mechanism on democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights, which should cover the full scope of Article 2 TEU values;
Amendment 123 #
Paragraph 16