40 Amendments of Elena YONCHEVA related to 2021/2025(INI)
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the Union is founded on the values set out in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU); whereas democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights are mutually reinforcing values which, when undermined, may pose a systemic threat to the Union; whereas respect of the rule of law binds the Union as a whole, its Member States and their subnational entities;
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas backsliding on the rule of law and fundamental rights in some countries is seriously affecting mutual trust in the functioning of the area of freedom, security and justice and threatening the Union objectives as enshrined in Article 3 of the TEU, as illustrated by several cases where the European Arrest Warrant was put under a strain due to profound doubts about the independence of the judiciary;
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F a (new)
Recital F a (new)
F a. whereas emergency measures taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have put more pressure on fundamental rights and democratic checks and balances;
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Welcomes the fact that justice systems, the anti-corruption framework, media pluralism and certain institutional issues related to checks and balances, including civic space, are all part of the Commission’s annual overview of the rule of law situation in the Member States; calls moreover for the inclusion in the annual reports of certain important elements of the Venice Commission’s 2016 Rule of Law Checklist, such as legal safeguards to prevent arbitrariness and abuse of power by public authorities, independence and impartiality of the Bar and equality before the law and non-discrimination; encourages the Commission to also highlight positive trends in Member States that could serve as good examples for others to follow;
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2 a. 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; encourages the Commission to devote more efforts to deepen the country analyses with a view to better assess the severity of rule of law challenges; believes that more time should be devoted to the Commission’s country visits, including on site, in order to achieve broader engagement and dialogue with national authorities and civil society; considers that the Commission should raise greater awareness of such country visits to foster the emergence of a rule of law culture at national level;
Amendment 75 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Stresses the potential preventive benefits of the annual Rule of Law Report; considers that a more thorough evaluation is needed to assess whether the report has had a preventive effect; considers that in any event this is clearly not the case as regards the Member States under the Article 7(1) TEU procedure; believes that the 2020 report should have provided more in-depth assessments, stating whether there is a risk of or actual breach of the Union values in each of the pillars under analysis in the country chapters; considers these assessments necessary to identify follow-up actions and remedial measures and tools; calls for a synthetic approach in the horizontal report in order to clearly identify where the most important risks and problems lie across Member States;
Amendment 79 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. CallsIs concerned by the spill-over effects of the erosion of media freedom into the other areas of analysis; considers smear campaigns against judges, legal professionals and civil society organisations and, in particular, strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP) actions, as a limiting factor to their independence and capacity of action; calls, therefore, for a more integrated analysis on the interlinkages between the four pillars included in the report and of how combined deficiencies may amount to systemic breaches of the rule of law;
Amendment 87 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Considers that the annual reports should identify cross-cutting trends at Union level; believes that a Union-wide perspective is absent from the 2020 report; asks the Commission to identify instances where certain practices undermining the rule of law, media freedom, check and balances or the fight against corruption in one Member State are becoming blueprints for others or when the gravity and scope of such practices have the potential to affect the Union as a whole; calls for the prioritisation of these Union-wide trends, including the increasing challenges by national Constitutional Courts to the EU legal architecture, in the analysis, to be able to direct remedial action at Union level;
Amendment 99 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Welcomes the monitoring of the independence, quality and efficiency of the Member States’ justice systems and hence their capacity to provide for effective judicial protection to ensure compliance with Union law; considers that the enabling environment to ensure access to justice for all should also be monitored, including access to justice at Union level; considers that the reports should go beyond a static annual snapshot and include information on relevant antecedents in the country chapters to enable a dynamic and integral assessment of the independence of judicial systems, including the independence of lawyers and Bars;
Amendment 117 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7 a. 1. Highlights that, in accordance with Article 17(1) TEU, the Commission is to ensure the application of the Treaties and of secondary legislation, including in cases where risks of serious breaches of the values laid down in Article 2 TEU, identified in country reports, have effectively materialised following the publication of the 2020 report;
Amendment 125 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Decries the fact that the initiation of preliminary ruling proceedings before the Court of Justice of the EU has been declared unlawful in Member States subject to Article 7 of the TEU; is appalled by the growing resistance of some Member States to comply with CJEU rulings on the grounds of sovereignty or unconstitutionality; believes that these developments pose a systemic threat to the Union; considers, therefore, that forthcoming annual reports should consider challenges to the Union’s legal architecture and principles as serious violations in the assessment; calls on the Commission to closely monitor the Constitutional Tribunal's ruling regarding the primacy of national constitutional norms over EU law launched at the request of the Government of one country subject to Article 7; urges the Commission to ensure an immediate and adequate response to a refusal to implement and respect CJEU judgments, such as court actions under Article 260 TFEU;
Amendment 140 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Welcomes the dedication of a specific chapter to anti-corruption efforts in each country report since systemic corruption undermines both the functioning of the rule of law and the trust of citizens in the decisions taken by authorities, civil servants and the judiciary; points out that while the existence of national anticorruption strategies can be considered progress, their effectiveness on the ground must also be assessed; notes that an assessment of the resilience of the anti-corruption framework to tackle corruption-related risks in the area of public procurement remains largely absent from the 2020 report; invites the Commission to place greater emphasis on the misuse of EU funds, particularly in view of the new conditionality mechanism;
Amendment 161 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Deplores the lack of assessment as regards the public media sector at national level and its degree of independence from government or any other interference and an assessment of transparency of media ownership; believes that proper implementation of Article 30 of the 2018 Audiovisual Media Services Directive19 should be closely monitored; _________________ 19 OJ L 303, 28.11.2018, p. 69.
Amendment 163 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Is alarmed by the growing deterioration of media freedom and media pluralism in some Member States since the publication of the 2020 report; observes with concern that challenges to media freedom are interlinked with the undermining of artistic freedom and academic freedom; calls, therefore, for this pillar to be expanded to all aspects of freedom of expression and for the title of the pillar to be adapted accordinglyis deeply concerned at the abuses, crimes and deadly attacks being committed against journalists and media workers in the Union in view of their activities;
Amendment 172 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12 a. Observes with concern that challenges to media freedom are interlinked with the undermining of artistic freedom and academic freedom; calls, therefore, for this pillar to be expanded to all aspects of freedom of expression and for the title of the pillar to be adapted accordingly;
Amendment 177 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Welcomes the report’s pillar on checks and balances, covering, inter alia, the process for preparing and enacting laws, the regime for the constitutional review of laws, the role of independent authorities and of civil society organisations in safeguarding the rule of law, and its examination of exceptional measures taken to fight the COVID-19 pandemic;
Amendment 186 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Invites the Commission to define clear benchmarks on an enabling civic spaceStresses the importance of a healthy civic space to counterbalance the erosion of the rule of law and foster a rule of law culture; invites the Commission to deepen the assessment of civic space in the forthcoming 2021 report; considers beneficial to explore the definition of clear benchmarks on an enabling civic space to further strengthen this area of analysis in the long run, including, among others, the enabling legal environment for the exercise of civic freedoms, the framework for civic organisations’ financial viability and sustainability, access to and participation in decision-making, the right to access to information, safe space, including as regards incidence and responses to verbal and physical attacks, smear campaigns and legal harassment including through Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation;
Amendment 191 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14 a. Recalls the importance of independent national human rights institutions and ombudsman bodies, in full compliance with the Paris Principles, as well as equality bodies, in preserving citizens’ rights and being able to defend the rule of law at national level; is deeply concerned by recent attempts in a Member State subject to Article 7(1) TEU to undermine the independence of the national Ombudsman from the executive;
Amendment 198 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Regrets that the non- implementation, which in itself constitutes a serious violation of the rule of law, by a Member State subject to Article 7 of the TEU of a CJEU ruling in relation to restrictions imposed on the financing of civil organisations by persons established outside that Member State, perpetuates the process of shrinking space for civil society in that Member State; notes with concern that an increasing number of Member States are adopting legislation that severely impinges on the freedom of association and expression for civil society organisations;
Amendment 201 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15 a. Regrets that the report fails to recognise in clear terms the democratic backsliding and the establishment of (semi-)autocratic regimes in some Member States, based on the gradual annihilation of all checks and balances;
Amendment 207 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. EReiterates the intrinsic link that exists between the rule of law and fundamental rights and the need to increase awareness of the values enshrined in Article 2 TEU and the Charter; encourages the Commission to consider including within the scope of future reports the application of all rights guaranteed by the Charter of Fundamental Rights; stresses that any action taken by a Member State when acting within the scope of EU law must respect the rights and principles of the Charter of Fundamental Rights; insists therefore, on the link between upholding the rule of law and the right to an effective remedy before a tribunal, the right to a fair trial and the right to be advised, defended and represented, as well as the obligation to provide independent legal aid;
Amendment 210 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17 a. Strongly denounces that European and international legislation are not fully respected in some EU Member States, for example in the field of anti-discrimination or in the field of asylum, such as the non- implementation by a Member State subject to an Article 7 TEU of several CJEU and ECtHR rulings in relation to access to the asylum procedure, including the automatic and unlawful detention and the deprivation of food, thus violating the rights of migrants and asylum seekers to apply for international protection;
Amendment 212 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 b (new)
Paragraph 17 b (new)
17 b. Underlines with concern that people in vulnerable situations, including persons with disabilities, children, religious minorities, especially in times of rising anti-semitism and islamophobia in Europe, Roma and other persons belonging to ethnic minorities, migrants, refugees, LGBTI+ persons and elderly persons, as well as women continue not seeing their rights fully respected across the Union; emphasizes the obvious link between deteriorating rule of law standards and human rights and minority rights violations in those Member States;
Amendment 224 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Calls on the Member States to present annual reports on democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights, equality and rights of persons belonging to minorities as part of the Union’s annual reporting mechanism;
Amendment 227 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Welcomes the Commission’s announcement of its strategy to strengthen the application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights; considers that focusing annually on a single pre-defined topic would not allow to highlight other serious violations of the Charter taking place on a given year; believes that such an annual review should provide input for a comprehensive monitoring mechanism and that its methodology, cycle and scope should therefore be aligned with the annual reports;
Amendment 236 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Calls on the Commission to strengthen the regular, inclusive and structured dialogue with governments and national parliaments, NGOs, national human rights institutions, Ombudsman and equality bodies, professional associations and other stakeholders; noteregrets that three Member States refused to make public their submissions for the 2020 report; calls for transparency in the process and for all submissions to be made public;
Amendment 244 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Stresses that civil society are key partners to identify rule of law violations and promote democracy and fundamental rights in countries where Union values have been eroded; considers that shadow reporting would bolster the efficiency and transparency of the processtimeframes for consultation for civil society are too short and should be more predictable; notes that organising consultations before the annual release of public statistics impoverishes contributions; calls on the Commission to allow multilingual submissions; suggests making the framework for stakeholders’ contributions less rigid;
Amendment 250 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Considers that cooperation in the annual monitoring cycle with the Council of Europe and its Parliamentary Assembly, including through a more structured partnership, is of particular relevance for advancing democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights in the EU; recalls that accession of the Union to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms is a legal obligation provided for under Article 6(2) TEU; reiterates the need for a swift conclusion of the accession process in order to ensure a consistent framework for human rights protection throughout Europe and to further strengthen the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms within the Union;
Amendment 257 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Calls on the Commission and the Council to respond positively to Parliament’s call in its resolution of 7 October 2020 for an EU mechanism on democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights; reiterates that such mechanism is necessary to reinforce the promotion and respect for Union values; recalls that this annual Cycle should be comprehensive, objective, impartial, evidence-based and applied equally and fairly to all Member States; recalls that findings of relevant international bodies, such as the ones under the auspices of the UN, OSCE and the Council of Europe, are of crucial importance for the assessment of the situation in Member States; believes that the European Union Fundamental Rights Information System EFRIS is a source of information in this regard;
Amendment 261 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 b (new)
Paragraph 24 b (new)
24 b. Recommends that the Commission aligns recommendations with potentially applicable tools to remedy the identified shortcomings; calls on the Commission to better follow-up on the implementation of the country-specific chapters by the Member States concerned by activating other rule of law tools to achieve results in case of non-implementation of the recommendations; underlines the importance of identifying clear positive and negative trends in each Members State and the need to give special attention to comparisons with the reports of the respective previous year;
Amendment 265 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 c (new)
Paragraph 24 c (new)
24 c. Calls on the Commission and the Council to enter without delay into negotiations with Parliament on an interinstitutional agreement in accordance with Article 295 TFEU in order to establish an objective and evidence-based monitoring mechanism enshrined in a legal act binding the three institutions to a transparent and regularised process, with clearly defined responsibilities, involving a panel of independent experts that shall advise the three institutions, in strong cooperation with the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, so that the protection and promotion of all Union values becomes a permanent and visible part of the Union agenda;
Amendment 271 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. SReiterates that the DRF mechanism must complement and reinforce, and by no means substitute, the ongoing and future proceedings under Article 7 TEU; strongly regrets the inability of the Council to make meaningful progress in enforcing Union values in ongoing Article 7 TEU procedures; notes that the Council’s hesitance to apply Article 7 of the TEU effectively is enabling continued divergence from the values provided for in Article 2 of the TEU; urges the Council to proceed without delay to vote under Article 7(1) TEU; calls on the Council to ensure that hearings under Article 7(1) TEU start again as a matter of urgency and also address new developments; reiterates its recommendation to the Council to address concrete recommendations to the Member States in question, as enshrined in Article 7(1) TEU, as a follow-up to the hearings, and that it indicate deadlines for the implementation of those recommendations; calls for a reflection at the Conference on the Future of Europe on a revision of the Article 7 TEU procedure in order to realign the majority requirements of paragraphs 1 and 2 with a view to having super-majorities of four or five for both procedures;
Amendment 277 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Reiterates that the annual report should serve as a basis for deciding whether to activate the procedure provided for in Article 7 of the TEU, whether to activate the Rule of Law Framework or whether to launch infringement procedures, including expedited procedures, applications for interim measures before the Court of Justice and actions regarding non-implementation of CJEU judgments concerning the protection of Union values; considers that the Conference on the Future of Europe should further assert the precedence of the EU legal order; invites the Conference on the Future of Europe to consider strengthening the role of the Court of Justice of the European Union in protecting the Union’s founding values;
Amendment 285 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
Paragraph 27
27. CStresses that the applicability, purpose and scope of the Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation is clearly defined in the legal text of the said Regulation; considers that the European Council conclusions on the Regulation on a general regime of conditionality contravene Article 17 and Article 15 TEU and Article 288 TFEU, and introduce unnecessary legal uncertainty considering some recent developments by Member States subject to Article 7 TEU; calls for action in this regard; recalls that said Regulation applies from 1 January 2021; calls for the Commission to use the findings of the annual report in its assessment that forms the basis of the mechanism to protect the budget against breaches of the principle of the rule of law, as well as in any other relevant assessment for the purposes of existing and future budgetary tools; reiterates its call on the Commission to dedicate a specific section of the annual report to an analysis of cases where breaches of the principles of the rule of law in a particular Member State could affect or seriously risk affecting the sound financial management of the Union budget in a sufficiently direct way; calls on the Commission to more vigorously apply the Common Provisions Regulation and the Financial Regulation to tackle discriminatory use of European funds, as it did when withholding funds for municipal or local governments proclaiming themselves to be ‘‘free from LGBTI ideology’’;
Amendment 289 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 a (new)
Paragraph 27 a (new)
27 a. Calls on the Commission to develop a culture of European values, including through strengthened efforts to promote European citizens’ education, which should include rule of law education;
Amendment 293 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 b (new)
Paragraph 27 b (new)
27 b. Calls on the Council and the Commission to provide adequate funding for European-wide, national, regional and local civil society organisations and independent journalism to foster grassroots support for democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights in all Member States, in particular where violations and shortcomings have been identified; believes that adequate funding under the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programme is extremely important, including for strategic litigation;
Amendment 297 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
Paragraph 28
28. Calls on the Commission to assess in successive reports how the issues identified in the areas analysed in previous reports have evolved, been solved, risk deteriorating or have further deteriorated, to identify trends and transversal issues and to put forward clear recommendations to remedy any risks or backsliding identified;
Amendment 306 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. Calls on the Commission to make clear in its annual Rule of Law Reports that not all rule of law shortcomings and violations are of the same nature and/or intensity and that when the values listed in Article 2 of the TEU are violated gravely, permanently and systematically, Member States cease being democracies; and become authoritarian regimes; calls, therefore, on the Commission to assess countries under ongoing Article 7 TEU proceedings in-depth, in order to illustrate how the rule of law has been structurally undermined to facilitate the consolidation authoritarian-style governance structures;
Amendment 310 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29 a (new)
Paragraph 29 a (new)
29 a. Underlines that this report should serve as a basis for the prioritisation of follow-up actions by the EU regarding those Member States where shortcoming or deficiencies are witnessed, firmly placing the contribution of the report within the overarching democracy, rule of law and fundamental rights mechanism;
Amendment 311 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29 b (new)
Paragraph 29 b (new)
29 b. Commits to start working on the 2021 report as early as possible after its publication;