Mr. Emmanuel Crabit:

Yes. There is this EU justice scoreboard which is an information tool which provides comparative information for 28 member states. It is just information. This information gives a comparative overview on the efficiency and the lines of proceedings, on the quality, for instance, the use of ICT, the training of judges, the evaluation system in member states on the Judiciary, and on the independence. This will be completed by a country analysis in the context of the European Semester which could lead to the formulation of country-specific recommendations. That is a process.

However, this is not the situation of our rule-of-law crisis. We have seen a situation in the past years where, for instance, the power of the constitutional court was subject to very significant reform, which has created some concern. The governance of the judicial system was also subject to significant reform which has created concerns among certain member states, and more so in the European Parliament and among the members of the judiciary itself. As I said, the framework is designed to address a specific situation which can occur in a member state which would lead to a systemic threat to the rule of law. Here, the question is whether the Commission does nothing or should the Commission step in even if we are not yet at the thresholds of Article 12(7). The latter was a question which has been raised. It has been raised not by the Commission alone but by many member states, and the Council and the Parliament, which turned to the Commission. What we do with this framework is to better organise ourself for the future crisis. We hope that it will never happen but if it happens we have explained how we will proceed.