Report on the Commission’s 2023 Rule of Law report

Wording as published by the EP, in English.

1. Amendment 2Adopted

   Recital E a (new)

   Tabled by Jeroen Lenaers, Elissavet Vozemberg-Vrionidi, Henna Virkkunen +83 · Members

   Added: Ea. whereas parliamentary elections took place in Poland in October 2023, ending the rule of the Law and Justice-led government; whereas the new government, representing a broad democratic coalition, made strong commitments to restore the rule of law and judicial independence in Poland and is cooperating to this end with the Commission and the Council of the EU;

2. Amendment 3Adopted

   Paragraph 2

   Tabled by Jeroen Lenaers, Elissavet Vozemberg-Vrionidi, Henna Virkkunen +83 · Members

   … as a means of curtailing judicial independence, as is the case in Removed: Poland and Bulgaria; Added: Bulgaria and was the case in Poland under the Law and Justice-led government; notes that the Commission has finally referred Poland to the Court of … European Union (CJEU) for violations of EU law by its Constitutional Tribunal; Added: notes that the current Minister of Justice of the Republic of Poland is committed to ending the unlawful disciplinary regime for judges in Poland, in accordance with the CJEU and European Court of Human Rights rulings; 36 Hungarian Helsinki Committee, Fundamental deficiencies of the Hungarian judicial reform, 31 …

3. Amendment 4Rejected

   Paragraph 11 a (new)

   Tabled by Jeroen Lenaers, Elissavet Vozemberg-Vrionidi, Henna Virkkunen +83 · Members

   Added: 11a. Welcomes the fact that Greece has made progress on four out of five recommendations included in the Commission’s 2022 Rule of Law Report, and has continued to strengthen the rule of law and media freedom through the digitalisation of justice, anti-corruption reforms, measures strengthening the transparency of media ownership and allocation of state advertising, the strengthening of the media-regulating authority, as well as improving the working environment for journalists, as also reflected in Greece’s rapidly improving scores in rankings tracking quality of democracy worldwide;

4. Amendment 5Rejected

   Paragraph 11 b (new)

   Tabled by Jeroen Lenaers, Elissavet Vozemberg-Vrionidi, Henna Virkkunen +83 · Members

   Added: 11b. Stresses that despite its recent resolution of 7 February 2024 on the rule of law and media freedom in Greece1a, the country ranks among the top 20 democracies in the world according to the 2023 Democracy Index published on 15 February 2024; notes that Greece achieved a total score of 8.14 out of 10 in the index, indicating that ‘Greece was upgraded to “full democracy” moving five places up the global rankings to 20th position’ and that ‘Greece scores top marks (ten out ten) for electoral process and pluralism, an achievement shared by only a dozen others’ while it ‘has a solid score for civil liberties (8.82)’; ________________ 1a Texts adopted, P9_TA(2024)0069.

5. Amendment 6Rejected

   Paragraph 11 c (new)

   Tabled by Jeroen Lenaers, Elissavet Vozemberg-Vrionidi, Henna Virkkunen +83 · Members

   Added: 11c. Underlines that Greece’s Supreme Court, with a strong majority of 49 to 13, issued a direct response to the European Parliament resolution of 7 February 2024 on the rule of law and media freedom in Greece, arguing that the resolution was based on ‘vague and unsubstantiated allegations’ and constituted ‘direct interference in the work of the Greek judicial authorities’;

6. Amendment 8Adopted

   Paragraph 18

   Tabled by Jeroen Lenaers, Elissavet Vozemberg-Vrionidi, Henna Virkkunen +83 · Members

   … Member States that have not yet done so to join the EPPO; Added: welcomes that fact that Poland has initiated the procedure to join the EPPO, which demonstrates the new government’s strong commitment to protecting the EU’s financial interests and to effectively fighting against corruption; considers that membership of the EPPO should be a precondition for receiving …

7. Amendment 9Adopted

   Paragraph 27

   Tabled by Jeroen Lenaers, Elissavet Vozemberg-Vrionidi, Henna Virkkunen +83 · Members

   … protected by safeguards against undue political influence, such as in Hungary, Slovenia Removed: and Poland, Added: and, until recently, Poland under the previous government led by the Law and Justice Party, and that the authorities lack resources, particularly in Greece and Romania; calls … ensure the effective implementation of Article 30 of the Audiovisual Media Services Removed: Directive40 Added: Directive 40 , stipulating the requirement of safeguards for the independence of national regulatory …

8. Amendment 10Adopted

   Paragraph 28

   Tabled by Jeroen Lenaers, Elissavet Vozemberg-Vrionidi, Henna Virkkunen +83 · Members

   … reforms, and an absence of measures to that effect in Romania, Malta, Removed: Poland and Hungary; Added: and Hungary; notes the efforts by the new Polish Government to restore the independence of the public broadcaster; notes that the most recent Media Pluralism Monitor rated the risk to …

9. Amendment 11Adopted

   Paragraph 34

   Tabled by Jeroen Lenaers, Elissavet Vozemberg-Vrionidi, Henna Virkkunen +83 · Members

   … surveillance, impunity or crimes against journalists, SLAPPs, media independence and pluralism44 ; Added: welcomes the creation of a task force on the ‘protection, safety and empowerment of journalists and other media professionals’, with the aim of strengthening the safety and independence of journalists and other media professionals, raising awareness, as well as monitoring the safety of journalists which the task force has initiated in line with Commission Recommendation (EU) 2021/1534 of 16 September 2021 on ensuring the protection, safety and empowerment of journalists and other media professionals in the European Union1c; notes with great concern the recent detention of a reporter by the … to protect journalists and salvage press freedom in Greece, 27 September 2023. Added: 1c OJ L 331, 20.9.2021, p. 8.

10. Amendment 12Adopted

    Paragraph 36

    Tabled by Jeroen Lenaers, Elissavet Vozemberg-Vrionidi, Henna Virkkunen +83 · Members

    … out in the Recommendation, the deadline for which was 30 November 2023; Added: welcomes the creation of the special inquiry committee with investigative powers in the Sejm, the lower house of the Polish Parliament; calls for a thorough investigation of alleged severe violations of national and EU laws related to unlawful surveillance for political purposes by the Law and Justice-led government; is alarmed that the alleged list of victims is very long and includes multiple politicians, lawyers, prosecutors, journalists, business people, activists and other persons; points out that in none of the many cases of abuse of …

11. Amendment 13Adopted

    Paragraph 47

    Tabled by Jeroen Lenaers, Elissavet Vozemberg-Vrionidi, Henna Virkkunen +83 · Members

    … and France, and continued authoritarian and serious systemic restrictions in Hungary and Removed: Poland; Added: Poland under the previous government led by the Law and Justice Party; calls on all Member States to accept civil society organisations (CSOs) as …

12. Amendment 14Rejected

    Paragraph 57

    Tabled by Jeroen Lenaers, Elissavet Vozemberg-Vrionidi, Henna Virkkunen +83 · Members

    … fact that three young Roma have been killed in three years in Removed: Greece and by the lack of thorough investigation thereof; Added: Greece; notes, however, after reviewing the official correspondence of 19 December 2023 from the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and the response from Greek authorities of 9 February 2024, that these cases are currently in court and that investigation proceedings have already started;

13. Amendment 15Adopted

    Paragraph 71 a (new)

    Tabled by Jeroen Lenaers, Elissavet Vozemberg-Vrionidi, Henna Virkkunen +74 · Members

    Added: 71a. Welcomes the fact that, on 15 February 2024, Greece became the 16th EU country to legislate marriage equality with the passing of a landmark bill by the Greek Parliament legalising same-sex marriage and granting full parental rights to same-sex couples;