Do the Commissioners-designate care about civil society?

“Civil society organisations and human rights defenders play a key role in protecting and promoting the EU values of fundamental rights, rule of law and democracy. If confirmed, I will intensify the Commission’s work to enable a thriving civic space in Europe, including through targeted funding to support and protect civil society actors.”

“The Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programme (CERV) provides support for civil society organisations and human rights defenders, in particular through its Union Values strand. It also requires a thorough risk management and monitoring system at each stage of the process – selection, implementation and evaluation – as well as during each project’s lifecycle, and part of its impact has come through the openness and transparency with which it works. It is also important to make sure that funding from these programmes does not fall in the wrong hands.”

“I will step up our engagement with civil society organisations and human rights defenders, including through a Civil Society Platform to support more systematic civil dialogue on matters relating to EU values. This will provide a single framework for participation across a range of EU policies. I will also look at how we can involve civil society more strategically in the Commission’s work in a meaningful and effective manner, including as part of the work on the Democracy Shield. I will examine ways to make the support we are providing on promoting rights and values by further empowering civil society, more stable and long term. For example, we could address the existing and sometimes overlapping systems to monitor the environment in which these actors work at the national level and work closer with Member States to better protect the environment in which civil society organisations and human rights defenders operate at national and EU level.”

“I will help to instil a culture of participatory and deliberative democracy, complementing and reinforcing representative democracy. Citizens’ democratic engagement is essential to our democracies and must be supported, also to reach a broader audience. This requires further mainstreaming citizens’ engagement in Commission policy-making process, building on the stakeholder engagement at the heart of our better regulation system. We can do more to enhance the visibility and buy-in of its citizens’ engagement toolbox: with public online consultations and feedback opportunities (‘Have Your say – public consultations and feedback’ platform), European Citizens’ Initiative, and the new generation of the European Citizens’ Panels targeted on defined policy areas. I will of course also join my fellow Commissioners and organise my first Youth Policy Dialogue within the first 100 days of the mandate, and repeat this annually.

The Recommendation on promoting the engagement and effective participation of citizens and civil society organisations in public policy-making processes, which was adopted as part of the Defence of Democracy Package last year, builds on the experience of the Conference on the Future of Europe. It supports best practices on participation of citizens and encourages Member States to provide more opportunities for citizens to effectively participate in public policy-making processes. We should follow up on this Recommendation with Member States through the sharing of experiences and best practices among Member States, while also working with representatives from regional or local authorities, Civil Society Organisations and umbrella organisations”

“The new European Democracy Shield set out in the Political Guidelines will be a flagship initiative to preserve fairness, plurality and the integrity of our political system by protecting it from foreign information manipulation and interference. If confirmed, I consider this to be a major priority, working in cooperation with my fellow Commissioners.”

“I would work actively with the co-legislators to advance the proposed Directive on interest representation carried out on behalf of third countries. This proposal is a response to increasing concerns over foreign influence attempts in the EU.”

“If confirmed I will actively support the co-legislators in advancing the proposed Directive on interest representation carried out on behalf of third countries.”

“The Guidelines confirm that the respect of the rule of law is a must for EU funds. Ensuring coherence between our budgetary instruments and related actions will be an important consideration, and I will work together with my fellow Commissioners to explore how best to maximise the impact.”

“I see the Rule of Law Report as one of the most important parts of our rule of law toolbox. […] This work can be strengthened and consolidated even further, including through a closer link to EU spending and by enriching the reporting cycle.

If I am confirmed, I will work closely with the Commissioner for Budget, Anti-Fraud and Public Administration to reinforce the link between financial support and the Member State recommendations from the Rule of Law Report and to further support rule of law reforms by ensuring that EU funding can be dedicated to national measures, for example on fighting corruption and protecting the EU’s financial interests.

The Report has been and will continue to be effective because it is well founded and focused. Covering already an extensive scope and now even further with strengthening the Single Market aspect, any further extension to cover fundamental rights or other Article 2 TEU values would need to be carefully examined. If confirmed, will engage with the European Parliament on how we can engage on fundamental rights in particular as regards the work that we will do on strengthening the application of the Charter.

One other idea that has been suggested is a contact group where rule of law developments would be regularly discussed, also with the Council.

I will work closely with the Commissioner for Budget, Anti-Fraud and Public Administration to help ensure the next Multiannual Financial Framework continues to ensure that there are strong safeguards on the rule of law. Such safeguards will build on the continuous application of the general regime of conditionality, and can also draw lessons from NextGenerationEU and the Recovery and Resilience Facility, which has shown how EU funds can promote rule of law reforms in Member States, as well as from the Horizontal Enabling Conditions. Work would seek to build a closer link between the recommendations in the Rule of Law Report and financial support under the EU budget, while continuing to ensure strong synergies and consistency with the work done with Member States under the European Semester.

I would lead the work on a new European Democracy Shield to address the severe risks to democracy in the EU. Building on the European Democracy Action Plan and the Defence of Democracy Package, and working together with my fellow Commissioners under the guidance of the Executive Vice President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, I would deepen the work to counter foreign information manipulation and interference and disinformation, to safeguard the fairness and integrity of elections and strengthen democratic checks and balances

Journalists, independent media, and human rights defenders play an essential role in our democracies, contributing to the protection of fundamental rights and acting as watchdogs against breaches of the rule of law. Their safety and protection will be a key aim for my work, if I am confirmed as Commissioner. To this end, I would pay close attention to the Member States’ uptake of the 2021 Recommendation on the safety of journalists and the 2022 Recommendation on protecting journalists and human rights defenders against SLAPPs, taking further steps as needed. 

When it comes to further possible legislation against SLAPP, my first ambition would be to ensure the swift and diligent implementation of the existing tools.”

“Finally, the success of our policies will depend on engagement with civil society and effective communication, which makes use of the Commission’s network of representations in Member States and the EU’s delegations worldwide. Trade policy has a well-established track record in terms of transparency and dialogue with various stakeholders. If confirmed, I will dedicate time and effort to deepening exchanges, including in particular through annual Civil Society Dialogue meetings. And the first of those can take place as early in the new mandate as possible.”

“I will propose strong safeguards on the protection of the rule of law in the next multiannual financial framework. They would build on the application of the general regime of conditionality to all funds. Second, we will need to draw lessons from the experience gathered with the implementation of the current budget and NextGenerationEU.

The Rule of Law Report and its recommendations are an important source for monitoring rule of law issues in the Member States. The Report is central to the assessments conducted under the Conditionality Regulation. The findings under the Conditionality Regulation, including when they originate from the Rule of Law report, must demonstrate the link with the EU budget in line with the requirements of the Conditionality Regulation, an assessment that must be evidence-based as confirmed by the Court of Justice.

Going forward, we will need to work towards further reinforcing the link between financial support and the Member State recommendations from the Rule of Law Report.”

“Looking ahead, I am committed to introducing strong safeguards on the rule of law in the next multiannual financial framework.”

“I will work closely with the Commissioner for Democracy, Justice and the Rule of Law, and with the other Members of the College, to make sure our rule of law toolbox is up to date, effectively used and delivering results for the benefit of all, citizens and businesses alike. It also includes continuing the process of using the rule of law reports to encourage further progress in enlargement countries ahead of accession. We need to build a closer link between the Rule of Law report and its recommendations and financial support. If confirmed, I would work closely with the Commissioner for Budget to this end.”