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DRAFT REPORT (2023/2028(INI))

On the situation of fundamental rights in the European Union in 2022 and 2023

LIBE-PR-749923

Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs · Rapporteur: Katarina Barley

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A draft report on the situation of fundamental rights in the EU in 2022 and 2023, structured around the Charter's chapters. It condemns threats to media freedom, corruption, pressure on judges, and violations at EU borders, and calls for swift agreement on the anti-SLAPP directive. It deplores blocked anti-discrimination rules, backsliding on women's rights, and rising hate speech and hate crime, welcoming EU action on hate crime. It asks for poverty reduction, notes digitalisation and housing as rights issues, and welcomes EU accession to the European Convention on Human Rights. It supports freezing EU funds over rule-of-law breaches and asks the European Council to rule on Hungary under Article 7(2) TEU. It calls for a Commission strategy and common rules to protect civil society from chilling effects, threats and attacks.

Committee position. The rapporteur proposes a comprehensive report structured around the Charter's chapters, covering general trends and systemic problems in member states under EU procedures, to be enriched during the amendment stage.

Key points

  1. Condemns a record number of imprisoned journalists in 2022 and calls for a swift agreement on the anti-SLAPP directive with broad protection against abusive lawsuits.
  2. Is concerned by rising corruption in some member states and uneven implementation of the EU anti-corruption framework.
  3. Condemns attempts by member state governments to influence the independent decision-making of the judiciary.
  4. Supports freezing EU funding through the Recovery and Resilience Facility and conditionality to fight corruption and rule-of-law backsliding, releasing funds only when concerns are addressed; asks the European Council to determine whether Hungary has committed serious and persistent breaches under Article 7(2) TEU.
  5. Notes threats to freedoms of association, speech and assembly, stresses that peaceful assembly may be restricted only by law and proportionately, and that information must be universally accessible and diverse.
  6. Calls for a Commission strategy and common rules in all member states to protect civil society organisations from chilling effects, threats and attacks.
  7. Recalls the right to liberty and security under Article 6 of the Charter, condemns rising antisemitic, anti-Islamic and racist incidents and under-reporting, and flags uneven application of the General Data Protection Regulation.
  8. Condemns fundamental rights violations and disproportionate violence by national authorities at EU borders.
  9. Deplores that the horizontal anti-discrimination directive has been blocked in the Council for 14 years, condemns backsliding on women's rights including denial of access to safe and legal abortion, and welcomes extending EU crimes to hate speech and hate crime.
  10. Welcomes the Commission's first use of an isolated Article 2 TEU violation in referring the Hungarian 'child protection law' to the Court of Justice.
  11. Calls on the Commission, Council and member states to reduce poverty, especially among children, welcomes the Council Recommendation on adequate minimum income, and notes digitalisation, housing and a healthy environment as rights issues.
  12. Welcomes progress towards EU accession to the European Convention on Human Rights, supports the Fundamental Rights Agency's data work and the two proposed directives on equality bodies, and recalls relevant Court of Justice case-law.

Who is affected

  • Journalists and media actors, who face threats and abusive lawsuits; the report seeks broad protection for them.
  • Civil society organisations, which the report says face a shrinking space and chilling effects.
  • Migrants and refugees, who face rights violations and disproportionate force at EU borders.
  • Women and girls, LGBTIQ+ people, Roma and other groups facing discrimination, hate speech and hate crime.
  • Hungary, which the report asks the European Council to assess under Article 7(2) TEU and whose law was referred to the Court of Justice.

Figures and deadlines

  • 14 years: how long the horizontal anti-discrimination directive has been blocked in the Council.

Legal basis: Article 2 TEU and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, cited as the Union's founding values.