Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs
The Chairman
IPOL-COM-LIBE D (2022) 34352
D 103730 28.10.2022
To the Chairperson(s) of the committee(s) concerned
Honourable Chairperson,
Since 2016, the European Parliament has called for a comprehensive and preventive mechanism
in the field of Rule of Law, via an EU mechanism on Democracy, the Rule of Law and
Fundamental Rights (EU DRF Pact).
This position was reinforced by the Parliament resolution of 7 October 2020 on the establishment
of an EU mechanism on Democracy, the Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights, that called for a
wide-ranging mechanism, to be governed by an inter-institutional agreement between the
Parliament, the Council and the Commission. This resolution foresees an Annual Monitoring
Cycle on Union Values, covering all aspects of Article 2 TEU and in this context, it recognises the
indispensable role of national parliaments and calls on them to hold public debates and adopt
positions on the outcome of the rule of law monitoring cycles. The resolution also provides for the
organisation of annual inter-parliamentary debates on the findings of the Annual Report.
In July 2022, the Commission published its third annual Rule of Law Report that presents the
state of play of the situation in Member States as regards the rule of law. Further engagement of
national parliaments to develop and promote awareness about the challenges to rule of law is
also raised in this Communication.
Against this background, and considering the importance of the matter, the LIBE Committee
would like to
invite Members of national parliaments to an inter-parliamentary committee
meeting on “The situation of the Rule of Law in the EU”.
The meeting is scheduled on
Thursday, 1 December 2022, from 14h30 to 17h30,
in the European Parliament premises in
Brussels.
The inter-parliamentary committee meeting will be dedicated to an assessment of the third
Commission’s rule of law report in the context of the Democracy, Rule of Law and Fundamental
Rights (DRF) mechanism and in the light of the Parliament’s resolutions of 24 June 2021 and 19
May 2022 on the Commission’s 2020 and 2021 Rule of Law Reports. The exchangeswould serve
as input into the ongoing work on the second monitoring report within LIBE. The meeting follows
those organised in November 2020 and in December 2021 on the first and second annual rule of
law reports of the Commission.
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