The European regulation of Law Semester is simply a proposal for a fresh EU mechanics to prevent associate States from breaking the regulation of law. The instruments that be today, although they have crucial functions, are not sufficiently coordinated and, most importantly, may be mutually exclusive. "Therefore, the thought of complementing them so that the EU institutions can respond more rapidly and efficiently to irregularities," emphasises Michał Wawrykiewicz, who, together with the Euro MPs Sophie Wilmès and Alessandro Zane, presented this task in the European Parliament.
– At the moment, the Union has various instruments, specified as the Article 7, conditionality mechanics or infringement proceedings before the EU Court of Justice. The aim is to coordinate these mechanisms, make them more effective, so that they can block the process of destroying the regulation of law. After experiences in Hungary or Poland during the regulation of Law and Justice, we know that these instruments are not effective adequate to be utilized individually – says Newseria agency Michał Wawrykiewicz.
The problem is besides that the tools for protecting the regulation of law are the work of the various EU institutions, which leads to a deficiency of coordination and even to their common exclusion.
– We have faced situations where the measures were blocked on the basis of 1 mechanics and on the basis of the other, which was counterproductive for the intent of protecting the regulation of law. The European Semester of regulation of Law is to order and coordinate all actions – explains the politician.
The thought is to combine existing tools – monitoring the regulation of law, political dialog and enforcement – into 1 predictable process. This means that the European Commission's yearly study on the regulation of law in the associate States will become a more applicable tool: with clear indicators, concrete milestones and deadlines. With these standards, the EC will be able to measure whether the country afraid has implemented the recommendations of the erstwhile report.
– We want the criteria set out in the European Legislative Chamber to be as precise and nonsubjective as possible so that we can separate systemic breaches from individual ones. Individual infringement can frequently be easy removed, and a milestone can precisely find what to do for this purpose. In the case of systemic infringements, the substance is more complicated, but this must besides be dealt with in a very precise manner so that the European Commission in the next regulation of law study next year can say whether this criterion has been met – says Michał Wawrykiewicz.
These criteria must be objective, but at the same time take into account the diversity of legal systems in the different associate States.
A novelty in the proposed expression is the anticipation of transferring funds to civilian society organisations in a country whose government violates the regulation of law, even if the measures for that country have been blocked.
“We have the AgoraEU programme in the fresh long-term financial framework to guarantee that civilian society does not pay for violations committed by the government. With specified a situation we have a place in Hungary – says Michał Wawrykiewicz.
He emphasises that the aim of the European Semester is to improve the tools for complying with the regulation of law so that they work quickly, efficiently and flexibly.
– If the reaction of the European Union takes respective years, the demolition process is so advanced that it is hard to undo. Poland is an excellent example of the fact that the European Union reacted besides late. If the reaction occurred immediately after the attack on the Constitutional Court, in 2015 or even in 2016, it would be much easier to halt all this. In fact, the first major reactions occurred in the second half of 2017, erstwhile it was already a bit late – Says the politician.
In his view, a fresh instrument to fight against the regulation of law is needed due to the fact that there have been regressions in terms of standards of democracy and the regulation of law for respective years. In the associate States, the voices of populists calling for EU institutions to take over and regulation on their own terms are increasingly heard and louder.
– This is contrary to the thought of the European Union, which was created precisely to guarantee that the same standards on democracy, freedom of speech, the regulation of law, tolerance function in all countries and that we effectively defend them. Any way to loosen these ties and indulge in individual associate States is to destruct the European Union, interior implosion, due to the fact that without democracy, without the foundation of the regulation of law it cannot function – says Michał Wawrykiewicz. – The European Union is the most crucial accomplishment in Europe's past in terms of political, legal, social and economical projects. We in Parliament and in all the EU institutions must do everything to guarantee effective compliance with the regulation of law, due to the fact that this is the pillar on which this full building is based.
