Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

Removed40. Affirms that the annual rule of law report is not an end in itself, as monitoring the situation is not enough but should rather lead to specific enforcement action on the identified shortcomings;

Added83. Reaffirms that many of these challenges could be overcome by involving an independent panel of experts in the drafting of the report, as they would be less bound by diplomatic considerations; calls on the Commission to reconsider its position on this point and to explore all possibilities to involve independent experts in subsequent editions of the rule of law report; repeats its call on the Commission to invite the FRA to provide methodological advice and conduct comparative research in order to add detail in key areas of the annual report, given the intrinsic links between fundamental rights and the rule of law;

Added84. Acknowledges the Commission’s effort to conduct a wide range of consultations and collect various inputs in each Member State, including from national authorities and CSOs; calls on the Commission to expand this further and, as much as possible, to conduct on-site rather than virtual visits in Member States, as these could paint a fuller and more contextual picture of the local situation; recalls, in particular, the importance of consulting legal professionals, such as through bar associations and judges’ associations;

Added85. Recognises the role of notaries in numerous Member States, which functionally exercise court tasks; believes that notaries’ contribution to rule of law standards should be addressed in relevant country chapters of subsequent editions of the rule of law report;

Added86. Welcomes the Commission’s decision to expand the geographical scope of future rule of law reports to include candidate countries, in line with previous Parliament calls for it to do so;

Added87. Believes that continuously and ambitiously expanding the scope, candour and enforcement consequences of the report is the best way to ensure its continued relevance and impact;

Added88. Urges the Commission to invest more in awareness-raising about the Union’s values and applicable tools, including the annual report, especially in countries where there are serious concerns;

Added89. Affirms that the annual rule of law report is not an end in itself, as monitoring the situation is not enough but should rather lead to specific enforcement action on the identified shortcomings; calls, therefore, on the Commission to ensure that this rule of law report is indeed part and parcel of an entire process within the ambit of the rule of law mechanism as a whole, and to ensure full use of the complete rule of law toolkit at its disposal, including Article 7 TEU in cases where the rule of law report keeps finding continuous breaches year after year in certain Member States;

Interinstitutional cooperation and procedures on rule of law

Change 28

Changed41.90. Takes note of the Council’s ongoing evaluation of its rule of law dialogue and the Council’s stated position that it will consider further possible interinstitutional cooperation in that context; calls on the Council to make its rule of law dialogue more inclusive, by inviting other institutions and stakeholders to its sessions, in particular Council of Europe bodies such as the Venice Commission, the Human Rights Commissioner, as well as representatives of the European Parliament;

Change 29

Changed42.91. Regrets that the Commission and the Council have so far rejected Parliament'sParliament’s offer to enter into an interinstitutional agreement on democracy, the rule of law;law and fundamental rights; reaffirms its willingness to resume talks on this agreement;

92. Calls on the other institutions, in the meantime, to at least explore further cooperation in the context of the proposed interinstitutional pilot on democracy, rule of law and fundamental rights, which would help build trust between the institutions in a practical way, in particular by sharing monitoring, dialogue and meeting practices;

Change 30

Added93. Asks its Bureau, in the light of the reluctance of the Commission and the Council, to organise a public procurement procedure in order to create a temporary panel of independent experts under the auspices of Parliament, in line with the commitment undertaken in its previous resolutions, in order to advise Parliament on compliance with the values under Article 2 TEU in various Member States and to show by example how such a panel could work in practice;

94. Condemns the total lack of progress in the ongoing Article 7(1) TEU procedures; urges the Council to address all new developments affecting the rule of law, democracy and fundamental rights; reiterates its call on the Council to address recommendations in the framework of this procedure, underlining that any further delaying of such action would amount to a breach of the rule of law principle by the Council itself; insists that Parliament’s role and competences be respected;

Change 31

Changed45.95. Calls on the Commission to include, strictly monitor and safeguard the DRF conditions in all budgetary instruments and processes; callsreaffirms onits serious concerns about the Commission indecision thisconsidering regardthat notthe tohorizontal unblockenabling anycondition cohesionof fundsthe forCharter Hungaryhad unlessbeen allfulfilled in relation to judicial independence, thus enabling conditionsthe haveHungarian beenauthorities fullyto metsubmit andreimbursement claims of up to EUR 10.2 billion, even though even following the judiciaryrecent inreforms, thatHungary Memberdoes Statenot canmeet bethe consideredstandard fullyof independentjudicial onindependence paperset andout in practice;the Charter; calls on the Commission and the Council to apply the Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation further and without delay where needed, and not to lift the measures adopted in the case of Hungary until all the preconditions and milestones have been effectively fulfilled; calls on the Commission to rigorously verify that the rule of law related milestones in the various Member State recovery and resilience plans are fulfilled as a condition for disbursing funding when Member States make payment requests; calls on the Commission to assign the primary responsibility for the application of these conditions to the Commissioners responsible for the rule of law;

°

° °

Change 32

Changed46.96. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the CouncilCouncil, the governments of the Member States and the Commission.