| Author (Corporate) | European Parliament: European Parliamentary Research Service |
|---|---|
| Series Title | Briefing |
| Series Details | January 2016 |
| Publication Date | January 2016 |
| Content Type | Journal | Series | Blog |
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The European Union is founded on values common to all Member States. These are supposed to ensure a level of homogeneity among Member States, while respecting their national identities, and so facilitate the development of a European identity and their integration based on mutual trust. Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union provides mechanisms to enforce EU values, based on a decision by the Council with the participation of the Commission and Parliament. The current mechanism is said to be unusable due to the high thresholds needed to adopt a decision in the Council, as well as Member States’ political unwillingness to use it. Various new approaches have been proposed by academics and by political actors, from a new independent monitoring body – the ‘Copenhagen Commission’, through extending the mandate of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), to introducing the possibility for the EU to suspend national measures suspected of infringing EU law. In 2014, the Commission adopted a new ‘Rule of Law Framework’ featuring a structured dialogue between the Commission and the Member State concerned and Commission recommendations and follow-up. On 13 January 2016, the Commission decided for the first time to initiate such an assessment of the situation in a Member State, with regard to two Polish laws – on the powers of the constitutional court and on the management of state TV and radio broadcasters. The European Parliament launched the idea of a ‘European fundamental rights policy cycle’ with the cooperation of the EU institutions, Member States and the FRA, as a ‘new Copenhagen mechanism’ to monitor the situation in Member States. At present, Parliament’s Civil Liberties and Justice Committee is drafting a legislative own-initiative report on an EU mechanism on democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights, relying on common and objective indicators. Written by Eva-Maria Poptcheva. |
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| Source Link | Link to Main Source http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2016/573922/EPRS_BRI(2016)573922_EN.pdf |
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| Subject Categories | Law, Politics and International Relations, Values and Beliefs |
| Countries / Regions | Europe |
