Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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On 7 December 2018, the European Commission announced that it was referring Hungary to the Court of Justice of the European Union in relation to three ongoing infringement proceedings. The first, also involving Poland and the Czech Republic, relates to the mandatory relocation issue and the failure to take refugees in accordance with the September 2015 Justice and Home Affairs Council Decision. The other two referrals relate to the laws on higher education (the “Lex CEU”) and on NGOs adopted in 2017. In the case of these latter two issues, Hungary is considered to have failed to address EU concerns about these laws or amend the legislation to bring it in line with EU standards.

The Taoiseach also raised concerns over rule of law issues with Prime Minister Orban during their meeting on 4 January last.

It is my hope that Hungary and the European Commission will engage on these important issues and that, ultimately, a resolution may be achieved.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Dialogue has been ongoing between the European Commission and Poland regarding the Rule of Law since January 2016.

The Commission on 20 December 2017 adopted three complementary measures (i) a proposal to the Council under Art. 7(1) TEU on the risk of a serious breach by a Member State of EU values (ii) a 4th rule of law recommendation identifying concrete actions Poland should take including two new measures relating to recently adopted laws, (iii) referral to the Court of Justice of the EU the law on the ordinary courts which introduced different retirement ages for male and female judges and gives the Minister of Justice discretionary power to extend their retirement ages. The Commission has invited the Polish authorities to address the issues within three months. The Commission has also said that it is ready to pursue a constructive dialogue with the Polish Government to this end.

Commission President Juncker and Polish Prime Minister Morawiecki met in Brussels on 9 January last where they addressed a broad range of issues of common interest, including the Rule of Law. They agreed that they will meet again to pursue the discussion with a view to making progress by the end of February.

I hope that a solution can be reached through this further dialogue.