The Commission needs greater powers to deal with antidemocratic drifts

The S&Ds expect the Commission to urgently table a proposal to set up a health check procedure on democracy and rule of law in the European member states.
 
MEP Birgit Sippel, S&D spokesperson on civil liberties, justice and home affairs, said:
 
"The rule of law is one of the EU's core values. It goes along with fundamental European values, such as the respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality and human rights, particularly for minorities. Nevertheless, around Europe, these values are neither effectively guaranteed, nor equally protected; discrimination, marginalisation and persecution still take place on a daily basis."
 
"Only recently, the well-known Hungarian government attacks on media freedom or the latest evidence showing the involvement of some EU countries in the CIA torture scandal have further highlighted the urgency of such a screening. Yet, so far the European institutions have appeared to be powerless when asked to deal with these worrying drifts.
 
Besides the infringement procedure already foreseen in case of breaches of the EU legislation (to Article 7 TUE), the S&D Group believes that the Commission should also have the power to investigate any violation of the EU democratic principles by one of its member states and then react once conclusions have been drawn".
 
MEP Birgit Sippel added:
 
"Candidate countries cannot enter the EU if they do not respect human rights, pluralism and the rule of law. The same principle must also apply once they have become part of the EU as well as to all the other 'old' member states.
 
"The European Union is not a gentlemen's club, we do not want the EU to impose a strict dress code and examine the good manners of candidates, but turn a blind eye to old members while eating with their fingers.
 
"The framework of safeguarding the rule of law, proposed by the Commission communication in March 2014, has only appeared to exist on paper until now and, if established, will not suffice.  The same holds true for the annual dialogue on the rule of law initiated by the Council in December 2014. We, therefore, urge both the Council and the Commission to put forward an effective mechanism to systematically address threats to the rule of law and to safeguard the EU's fundamental values".