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Commission head von der Leyen, EU Parliament President Sassoli
Photo: FREDERICK FLORIN / AFP
The European Parliament wants to protect democracy and the rule of law in the EU states with robust means.
But EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has now rejected Parliament's call for a “protective mechanism for democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights”.
In a letter to the President of Parliament, David Sassoli, which SPIEGEL has received, the EU Commission President writes that her authority "would prefer cooperation under existing institutional agreements." In addition, there is already the annual rule of law report and the recently presented »Democracy Action Plan«, says von der Leyen's letter, which was sent on Wednesday.
The mechanism called for by Parliament in October 2020 would, however, go far beyond existing instruments. It should monitor the fundamental rights and democracy situation in all EU countries, make recommendations and, if necessary, enforce their implementation with sanctions such as the withdrawal of funding or even voting rights in the EU. The aim of this is to counter “the rise and consolidation of autocratic and illiberal tendencies” in several EU countries, the parliament resolution of October 2020 said.
Von der Leyen's no to the mechanism is spicy for two reasons. On the one hand, there has long been criticism from the ranks of the Parliament of the EU Commission's hesitant action against rule-of-law offenders. It was only in October that Parliament sued the Commission before the European Court of Justice for inaction because it had still not used the mechanism that had been in place since January to withdraw EU funds against countries such as Hungary and Poland.
On the other hand, in the opinion of critics, von der Leyen is now again breaking her promise to grant parliament the de facto right to propose bills.
In the EU, only the Commission currently has this right.
Before taking office, von der Leyen had promised the EU Parliament that all of his legislative proposals would be converted into legal acts.
This has practically not happened so far - and apparently it should not be in the case of the democracy mechanism either.
"By breaking her word, Von der Leyen proves that her promises to parliament do not apply," says FDP MEP Moritz Körner.
Hungary's head of government Viktor Orbán and Poland's strong man Jarosław Kaczyński could “continue to rely on von der Leyen's protective hand”.
