EU Presidency – Minister Bóka: No EU mechanism to monitor rule of law compliance

European Union regulations currently do not make it possible to monitor EU institutions’ compliance with the rule of law, the EU affairs minister told an international conference in Budapest on Monday, adding that an aim of the Hungarian EU presidency was to explore ways to make up for the shortcomings.

Jónos Bóka told the event organised by Transparency International Hungary and the Connect Europe Association that rule-of-law procedures were “the greatest challenge” for the EU as they politicised the bloc’s fundamental values rather than reinforcing them.

“A deep and mutual distrust has been generated between member states and institutions, which makes sincere cooperation extremely difficult,” the minister told the conference called “Protecting European values and the EU budget – Rule of law and transparency: weak points in Hungary’s EU presidency programme”.

Bóka said Hungary was being attacked “for its interpretation of the rule of law as a sovereign and democratic country, and for pointing out double standards, inconsistencies and hidden political agendas” in the EU.

The Hungarian presidency has launched several initiatives to resolve those debates, he said.

Meanwhile, Bóka insisted there had been a shift in the European Commission’s approach to the rule of law. “The Commission’s report mostly tackles areas that are under member states’ purview. Making funding from the multiannual financial framework conditional on issues outside the EU’s competency is clearly crossing a line.”

“Making the rule of law transnational is part of creating a European constitutional federation … Some of the debates are focusing on the aim to turn the EU’s system of regulations into a value system. I am firmly convinced that the EU is a community of values. But that doesn’t mean that EU law should be turned into a system of values,” Bóka said.

A common norm that would allow punitive measures to be imposed when the rule of law is violated remained elusive, Bóka said. To achieve that, “we need a clear political mandate and a full-scale reform of the competencies of the EU and member states, with an emphasis on the protection of the latter,” Bóka said.