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- Herausgeber: Marie B
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022
The war in Ukraine has added another crisis to the impressive string of difficulties that the European Union has faced in recent years.
After the financial crisis, then the pandemic, it now faces a new challenge of a magnitude not seen since 1950: the return of war to the continent.
The European Union's resilience has greatly improved.
It has coped with the virus and, thanks to the pooling of its resources, and it has become the world's leading producer of vaccines. It has been able to manage the unprecedented consequences of an unpredictable situation as best it could.
Since it was not in a position to confront Russia's military aggression on its own, the European Union has taken up its full place in the Atlantic Alliance; it has shown solidarity, responded quickly and shown a united front.
From now on, in all situations, there will be European action, a common or at least concerted policy. Europe is on the move, for the long term and, in all likelihood, for ever. It makes progress as difficulties arise, but also as its requirements and values change.
This is why the Schuman Report on Europe - the State of the Union 2022 is so useful. Over and above the current situation, it helps us to assess the effectiveness of the common policies that are now permanent and the fundamental changes in its governance and its practices. It is, more than ever, a relevant and indispensable tool for understanding the reality of European integration, its progress and its hesitations. Complete with original maps and a unique set of commented statistics, it provides a unique and practical tool for the analysis of Europe for as wide an audience as possible.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Managing Director of the Robert Schuman Foundation. A former auditor of the 56th national session of the Institute of Higher National Defence Studies (IHEDN),
Pascale Joannin is the director of the Schuman Report on Europe, the state of the Union, published by Marie B, and co-editor of the Permanent Atlas of the European Union, published by Marie B (5th edition), 2021. She is the author of L'Europe, une chance pour la femme, Note de la Fondation Robert Schuman, n° 22, 2004. She has published numerous studies on European issues.
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Editions Marie B/ collection Lignes de RepèresEdited by Pascale Joanninwith Ramona Bloj and Stefanie BuzmaniukThe State of the Union, 2022, Schuman Report on Europe is a collective work created on the initiative of the Robert Schuman Foundation within the meaning of Article 9 of Law 57-298 of 11 March 1957 and Article L. 113-2 paragraph 3 of the Intellectual Property Code.
Original texts in French translated into English: Helen Levy
Layout: Nord CompoCover: Nord CompoCover image: Wirestock/Alamy photo
Copyrights: Editions Marie B/collection Lignes de repères
ISBN: 9782492763106
Ce document numérique a été réalisé par Nord Compo.
Contents
Summary of maps
1959-2022: European Integration
Territories of Europe
Women’s Europe
1. Political issues
Environmental concerns in member countries
Political Europe
2. Economic issues
Research and development expenditure in the EU
Health expenditure in the European Union
3. Europe in the world
The EU overseas territories
Claims in Southern China Sea
4. The European Union as seen by statistics
Global growth outlook
Trade external to the European Union
Intra-community trade
Free trade areas in the world
Military expenditure in the world
Population of the EU Member States
Internal Migration
The European Union and migration management
Inflation in the European Union
Public debt
Environmental performance index of the EU Member States
State of the UnionSchuman report 2022 on Europe
Directed by Pascale Joannin
Have contributed to this book:
Émilie Aubry, Jean-Pierre Cabestan, Patrick de Cambourg, Nathalie Colin‑Oesterlé, Corinne Deloy, Jean-Dominique Giuliani, Francisco Juan Gómez Martos, Johannes Hahn, Pascale Joannin, Olivier Lenoir, Maria Leptin, Isabelle Marchais, Pascal Orcier, Tomasz Orłowski, Christian Pfister, Didier Reynders, Emmanuel Rivière, Marc-Antoine de Saint-Germain, Thomas Serval, Natacha Valla, Elissavet Vozemberg-Vrionidi
Have contributed to this book…
Texts
Émilie Aubry
A graduate of Sciences Po Paris after studying literature, Émilie Aubry became a reporter for LCP in 2002 before presenting the channel’s major events. In 2009 she joined the Capa agency to present the programme “Global Mag” broadcast on Arte. In 2012, Arte appointed her to host the THEMA evenings and, since 2017, as editor-in-chief of the geopolitical magazine “Le Dessous des cartes”, which is now available digitally with “Une leçon de Géopolitique”. In September 2021, she published Un monde mis à nu, a new atlas of Le Dessous des cartes, co-authored with geographer Frank Tétart (Arte Éditions/Tallandier).
Jean-Pierre Cabestan
Specialist in law and institutions in the contemporary Chinese world, Jean-Pierre Cabestan is research director at the CNRS. He was lecturer in political science at the Hong Kong Baptist University from 2007 to 2021. He inaugurated and directed the Taipei branch of the Centre for French Studies on Contemporary China (1994-1998) and then directed the Centre in Hong Kong (1998-2003). From 2003 to 2007, he was attached in comparative law at the University of Paris. He holds a doctorate in law and a doctorate in political science, as well as degrees in Chinese and Japanese. His latest publications: Demain la Chine: démocratie ou dictature?, Éditions Gallimard, 2018 and Demain la Chine: guerre ou paix?, Éditions Gallimard, 2021.
Patrick de Cambourg
Chairman of the French Accounting Standards Authority (ANC) since 2015. In this capacity, Patrick de Cambourg is a member of the EFRAG Board, the IASB, the colleges of the AMF and HCSF, among others. Recently, he chaired the Task Force of the project (Corporate reporting Lab@EFRAG) on the preparatory work for the development of non-financial reporting standards in the European Union. He is currently chairing a second Task Force on a European standard on sustainable development. A graduate in political science, public law and business law, he has spent his professional career with the Mazars group, of which he has been Honorary Chairman since the end of 2014.
Nathalie Colin-Oesterlé
Member of the European Parliament (EPP, FR) since July 2019. After studying law at the University of Paris Panthéon-Assas, Nathalie Colin-Oesterlé became a notary. She has been a locally elected representative in Metz since 2001. She is a member of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety and vice-chair of the special committee on the fight against cancer. In 2020, she authored the report on medicines shortages in Europe.
Corinne Deloy
A graduate of Sciences Po and holder of a DEA in political sociology from the University of Paris I – Panthéon Sorbonne, Corinne Deloy was a journalist at the Nouvel Observateur and Managing Director of the Foundation for Political Innovation (Fondapol). She is a researcher at the Centre de recherches internationales de Sciences Po (CERI) and editor of the Observatoire des élections en Europe (OEE) of the Robert Schuman Foundation.
Jean-Dominique Giuliani
Chairman of the Robert Schuman Foundation, Jean-Dominique Giuliani was the director of cabinet for the President of the Senate René Monory and director at SOFRES. A former special advisor to the European Commission and member of the Supervisory Board of Arte, he co-edits the Permanent Atlas of the European Union, Éditions Marie B (5th edition), 2021. He is the author of Européen, sans complexes, éditions Marie B, 2022 and of La grande bascule, éditions de l’école de Guerre, 2019.
Francisco Juan Gómez Martos
Doctor of Political Science, an economist and a former EU official, Francisco Juan Gómez Martos is currently a visiting professor at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan (Faculty of Political Science and Journalism). He is the author of several academic publications in European journals and numerous articles published in the newspaper El País. He has published numerous studies for the Foundation.
Johannes Hahn
European Commissioner for Budget and Administration since December 2019, Johannes Hahn was European Commissioner for Regional Policy from 2010 to 2014 and European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement negotiations from 2014 to 2019. Prior to that, he held several management positions, including as CEO of Novomatic AG for 5 years. Between 1992 and 1997, he was Executive Director of the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) in Vienna. In 2002 he was elected Vice-President of the party and President in 2005. He was a member of the Vienna Regional Parliament from 1996 to 2003 and became Federal Minister for Science and Research in 2007.
Pascale Joannin
Managing Director of the Robert Schuman Foundation. A former auditor of the 56th national session of the Institute of Higher National Defence Studies (IHEDN), Pascale Joannin is the director of the Schuman Report on Europe, the state of the Union, published by Marie B, and co-editor of the Permanent Atlas of the European Union, published by Marie B (5th edition), 2021. She is the author of L’Europe, une chance pour la femme, Note de la Fondation Robert Schuman, no 22, 2004. She has published numerous studies on European issues.
Maria Leptin
Chair of the European Research Council. After a PhD in Basel and postdoctoral research in Cambridge, Maria Leptin was the director of a research group at the Max Planck Institute in Tübingen and lecturer at the Institute for Genetics in Cologne. She has completed research stays at UCSF, the École Normale Supérieure in Paris and the Sanger Institute in Hinxton, UK. From 2010 to 2021 she was Director of the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO). She is an elected member of EMBO, the Academia Europaea, the German National Academy, the Leopoldina, an honorary member of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences and holds an honorary doctorate from EPFL, Lausanne.
Isabelle Marchais
A graduate of Sciences Po Paris, with a degree in History and a Masters in Political Science, Isabelle Marchais has worked for a long time as a journalist covering European news in Brussels for various media, including the Société Générale de Presse and L’Opinion. She conducts interviews for the Robert Schuman Foundation in the series “Réveilleurs d’Europe”.
Tomasz Orłowski
Ambassador (ret.). A graduate of the Universities of Łódź, Toruń and Poitiers, Tomasz Orłowski was an auditor at the Institute for Advanced Studies in National Defence. From 1990 to 2021, he held several positions in the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 2005, he was appointed Polish Ambassador and Director of Diplomatic Protocol. From 2007 to 2014 he was Polish Ambassador to France and from 2015 to 2017 to Italy. He was Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. A corresponding member of the Académie des Sciences morales et politiques, Professor at the Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Academy in Krakow, he teaches international relations at Sciences Po-Paris, the University of Warsaw and the College of Europe.
Christian Pfister
A consultant, Christian Pfister has worked at the Banque de France where he was Deputy Managing Director for Research and International Relations, Deputy Director General for Statistics and Adviser to the Governor.
Didier Reynders
European Commissioner for Justice since December 2019, Didier Reynders became a Member of Parliament in 1992. Seven years later, he became Minister of Finance in Guy Verhofstadt’s first government. He stayed there for twelve years before becoming Minister for Foreign Affairs at the end of 2011. From 2004 to 2019, he was also Deputy Prime Minister in successive federal governments. He was President of the Mouvement Réformateur (MR) from 2004 to 2011.
Emmanuel Rivière
World Director for International Research and Policy Consulting at Kantar Public since 2021. Emmanuel Rivière also chairs the Kantar Centre on the Future of Europe. He was previously Managing Director France of this group, dedicated to public sector issues and political action, whose activities were previously carried out in France by TNS Sofres, where he was Director of the Opinion Strategies unit between 2005 and 2016. He was previously head of the Opinion Observatory Unit of the Government Information Service between 1999 and 2005, after starting his career at the CSA polling institute. He teaches at Sciences Po Paris and at Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne.
Marc-Antoine de Saint-Germain
Director of the Centre d’études stratégiques de la marine (CESM) at the École militaire since June 2021, Admiral Marc-Antoine de Saint-Germain, a naval officer, trained at the École Navale in 1991, spent twenty years on board ships of the French Navy, in particular the aircraft carrier “Charles de Gaulle”, which he commanded from 2017 to 2019.. Auditor of the 66th session of the CHEM and the 69th session of the IHEDN (2016-2017), he joined the Delegation for Strategic Affairs of the Ministry of Defence (DGRIS) and was an advisor in the military cabinet of the Prime Minister.
Thomas Serval
Co-founder and CEO of the Baracoda Group, he is the holder of more than fifty patents and eight innovation awards at CES in Las Vegas. As an entrepreneur, Thomas Serval is the aims to create new health routines using technologies that are accessible to all and to optimise everyday objects, so that everyone can take control of their own health, in a preventive and sustainable way. A former student of the École normale supérieure, he shares his activity as an inventor with his passion for mentoring and collaboration with entrepreneurs, scientists and doctors. Previously, he was a senior executive at technology companies such as Microsoft and Google.
Natacha Valla
Dean of the School of Management and Innovation at Sciences Po, Natacha Valla is Chair of the National Productivity Council. She was Deputy Director General for Monetary Policy at the European Central Bank (2018-2020), Director of International Economic Research at Goldman Sachs, Deputy Director of CEPII and Head of the Policy and Strategy Division at the European Investment Bank.
Elissavet Vozemberg-Vrionidi
Member of the European Parliament (EPP, GR) since 2014. Elissavet Vozemberg-Vrionidi studied law and political science at the University of Athens and has been practising law since 1982, specialising in criminal and family law. In the European Parliament, she has been Vice-Chair since July 2019 of the Committee on Women’s Rights (FEMM), member of the Committees on Civil Liberties (LIBE) and Transport and Tourism (TRAN). She is a member of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on EU-Turkey relations. She is currently rapporteur for the dossier on the treatment of crisis and force majeure situations in the field of migration and asylum.
Statistics
Olivier Lenoir
A graduate of the Ecole Normale Supérieure (economics) and a former student of the Collège des Ingénieurs, Olivier Lenoir is currently a writer as well as a cabinet director at Orange. His European career has also taken him to La Sapienza, the International Labour Office and the Human Rights Defender.
Cartes
Pascal Orcier
A former student of the ENS in Lyon, Pascal Orcier is an associate professor and doctor in geography, a specialist in the Baltic countries, a cartographer, and a teacher of European classes at the Lycée Beaussier in La Seyne-sur-Mer (83) and preparatory classes at the Lycée Stanislas in Cannes (06)
PrefaceEurope in a perfect storm
Jean-Dominique GIULIANI, Pascale JOANNIN
The European Union continues to encounter greater and more violent crises as well as strategic surprises. The Russian war in Ukraine is the latest one in a series. However, it would seem that there are no more crises, only the acceleration of unforeseen events and profound changes. After the subprime crisis, Greek finances, Syrian refugees, the Covid pandemic, the spectre of war is back on the continent.
All of these challenges are putting a strain on most EU policies and yet they confirm the relevance of the European project.
In the face of these events, the European Union has made more progress in a few months than in thirty years.
But it is paying for its delays and hesitations.
It must revise many of its policies and resolutely project itself into a new and more brutal global world.
The European Union has already come a long way
In the health crisis, although the first response of states was a national one – closure of borders, competition for anti-virus tools – it quickly gave way to a common front in the acquisition and distribution of vaccines, of which the European Union quickly became the world’s largest producer and donor. Poor Member States turned to European cooperation. It worked.
The subsequent recovery plan broke down many previously insurmountable taboos. NextGenerationEU, partly financed by joint borrowing, has paved the way for direct grants for the states most affected by the pandemic. This has never been done before. It has given concrete expression to a European solidarity that was thought to be regressing in all areas.
Finally, the Russian war in Ukraine has been the occasion for a rapid and massive response in the adoption of severe sanctions against many Russian protagonists, sometimes to the detriment of Europe’s immediate economic interests.
The European Union has been much more reactive than it had been to date. Faced with the emergency, the “European reflex”, which was not present when dealing with the migratory wave of 2015, has been expressed in the strongest manner. The common institutions have understood that the time factor is a condition for demonstrating their effectiveness.
The rapid adoption of new, internationally focused rules came as a surprise. First by allowing the control of foreign investments, then by accepting joint loans and a pivotal role for the European Commission as a buyer of vaccines, then of gas. With the Digital Market Act and the forthcoming texts that will regulate digital activities across all 27 Member States have shown that the time has come for European regulations that are applicable to all players in the sector, regardless of their nationality. In terms of defence and diplomacy, Europeans have successfully adopted a “strategic compass”, the first step towards a genuine global strategy. The acceleration – that is unfortunately still too slow – of the consideration, at European level, of the need for European rearmament is the most recent development towards greater reactivity and effectiveness of European cooperation and institutions.
In this respect, we might also positively note a turning point in European joint action, ‘rejuvenated’ by its recovery plan, but also in new fields of competence that were previously paused or unexplored, for example, support for disruptive technologies, space policy, quantum computing or the production of electronic components (Chip Act).
Some may consider these developments to be insufficient, but no one can deny that they represent major breaks with the European Union’s previous practices and with its own rules, many of which have been on standby. There are also individual or bilateral initiatives by States that are clearly part of a European analysis, such as the “Airbus battery”, the European Cloud or the more or less concerted “hydrogen” plans, with the role of the Franco-German couple sometimes proving decisive.
The fact remains that the European Union is paying for its tardiness, hesitation and divisions. This is particularly obvious in the field of energy and defence.
The repeated refusal of all member states to build a common energy policy has caused damage that is now becoming apparent. The dependence on its suppliers, too long considered an asset for cooperation and the advancement of the rule of law in the East or the South, is now a considerable obstacle to its diplomatic room for manoeuvre.
In terms of defence, the fact that the progressive construction of strategic autonomy, i.e. freedom of action, has been viewed as an attack on NATO, has hampered efforts to halt European disarmament and to build together a genuine European pillar of the Alliance. The Europeans have found themselves tailing their allies on the other side of the Atlantic, who are disinclined to get involved in Europe in a power struggle with Russia, since they are more preoccupied with their rivalry with China. The war in Ukraine has witnessed the United States and the United Kingdom at the forefront of the response to the war of aggression, both in terms of intelligence and analysis and in terms of tangible support for the Ukraine under attack.
This situation demonstrates the complementarity between NATO and the European Union. The latter has the financial means to assist the aggressed Ukraine, while the former is efficient at military level. The arms deliveries financed by the European Union demonstrate both the limits of its action and the development of its rules. Unprecedented, they are transgressing the common rules allowing the member states to act individually. France, which currently holds the six-month presidency of the Council of the European Union, is maintaining the only Western channel of communication with the Russian dictator, the others, with Poland and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, guaranteeing that the European Union will not agree to let down a neighbour that is calling for help.
The revision, development or launch of common European policies will therefore be the essential work of the Union in the near future
Clearly, the European Green Deal would not withstand a prolonged war, or even a conflict involving more member states. The risk of this is significant. In such circumstances, where urgency takes precedence over long-term policies, there is a fear of repeated ‘forced’ exceptions to provisions already contested by some Member States. The European Union must adapt its policies before it is obliged to adopt an economy of war.
The “taxonomy” that some Commissioners and the European Parliament are so fond of sought to exclude nuclear energy but finally agreed to include gas as a “transitional” energy. This flawed compromise should never have concerned nuclear energy, which contributes to Europe’s energy independence, nor should it have included gas, which everyone now wants to get rid of or for which they are urgently considering changing suppliers. The defence industries, which are also being side-lined, should be expressly excluded from the same initiatives.
In agriculture, the fate of pesticides, without an impact assessment, is likely to lead to a reduction in cereal production and to increased shortages and prices of basic foodstuffs at a time when Russia and Ukraine, the two main suppliers to developing countries, are drastically reducing their exports. The European Union has a choice: either to continue with its policy developed under pressure from the excessive lobby of militant NGOs and contribute to famines and revolutions, particularly on the southern shores of the Mediterranean Sea, or else, as the Ministers of Agriculture have already indicated, to cultivate certain areas again, to urgently increase the production of essential products so as to avoid the social and political consequences of these shortages. In this way, it would strengthen its geopolitical role in relation to states in need.
It goes without saying that effective European solidarity between its members must also take into account the dimension of energy. Dependent states must be able to rely on their partners to pool some of their supplies or to benefit from a collective negotiating force with new suppliers. Perhaps this will be an opportunity to lay the foundations for a more realistic common policy in this key area of European sovereignty?
The same applies to defence. At present, the European Union is financing the distribution of arms to Ukraine, which it is unable to do internally. Accelerating and strengthening the financing of the defence industry in Europe is a priority that is required both by the objective of strategic autonomy and by NATO’s governing bodies. The common sanctions policy has been impressive in its scope. It will not suffice right now or in the future. After the strategic compass adopted in the spring, the next step will be a vast plan for the financing of defence investments. It would be better if it were coordinated, since the German Chancellor’s announcements in this area seem to be quite solitary.
Germany will be the centre of future European issues
With no defence autonomy, no effective armed force, unilateral energy choices with little solidarity with its partners, dependence on Russian supplies, suffering from the closure of Chinese markets that could result from the pandemic and the political priorities of the Chinese Communist Party, and having to manage the conversion of its important automobile sector, the German economy will soon face formidable challenges.
Will it move towards closer European integration as it claims, or will it continue with national policies that will inevitably have negative impacts on its partners by making them shoulder the burden of some of its past mistakes? The answers are vital for this country and for the whole of the European Union.
The best answer would be to resolutely pursue the completion of the internal market, banking union and the capital markets union. Germany and the whole of the Union can find a partial solution in these projects to the emergencies of the moment and lasting solutions to an economy that is structurally dependent on third countries.
The solutions are European. Responses on the part of governments and citizens are becoming more and more European. The Member States could draw on this strength for new initiatives, helping to erase the hesitations, slowness and even the errors of the past, so as to turn resolutely towards the future.
The “perfect storm”, i.e. a violent one, that the European Union is going through is an opportunity to revise some of its certainties, to adapt its policies and to win over the hearts of the European citizens a little more through efficiency and reactivity.
This Schuman Report on the state of the Union is largely based on contributions written before the outbreak of the Russian war in Ukraine. However, it remains highly topical due to the long-term problems it analyses and the proposals it contains.
1Political IssuesThe protection of the rule of law in the European Union
Didier REYNDERS
Above all, the European Union is a community of law and values. Our values have always been central to the European project and indeed are its foundation. Of these values, the rule of law is of particular importance, as it guarantees the protection of all others, including respect for fundamental rights and democracy. Without access to independent justice, the effectiveness of fundamental rights cannot be ensured. The rule of law is also essential to secure effective implementation of EU legislation, mutual trust and judicial cooperation. It is also one of the pillars of the proper functioning of our internal market, to maintain its competitiveness and to promote an investment-friendly environment.
However, recent years have shown that we cannot take the rule of law for granted. The emergency situation caused by the pandemic has simply amplified this observation. Beyond its immediate health and economic impact, it has proved to be a real “stress test” for the resilience of our national systems in times of crisis.
In this context, the protection of the rule of law within the European Union is one of the main priorities of my mandate. As guardian of the Treaties, the Commission has recently extended the range of instruments at its disposal to guarantee this objective. A new European mechanism has been developed, the central pillar of which is an annual report on the rule of law. With the publication of the first report in 2020, an innovative cycle has been established to promote the rule of law in a more proactive way. The aim is to improve the prevention of potential breaches of the rule of law and to establish a regular dialogue on these issues with Member States.
However, the promotion and enforcement of the rule of law cannot be confined to a top-down process. That is why the Rule of Law Report is based on an inclusive approach. In preparing the first report, we gathered input from a wide range of stakeholders, including civil society. Including civil society is an essential step towards deepening our knowledge of the situation in each Member State.
The report has four main pillars with a strong emphasis on the rule of law: national justice systems; anti-corruption frameworks; pluralism and media freedom, as well as other institutional issues related to the balance of power essential for an effective system of democratic governance. On this basis, the Commission’s aim is to foster an inclusive debate and promote a genuine culture of the rule of law throughout the European Union. The report should also help all Member States to consider how to remedy certain difficulties, learn from each other’s experiences and highlight the possibilities for further strengthening the rule of law in full respect of national constitutional systems and traditions.
The Commission plans to adopt the next Rule of Law Report in July 2022. It will be prepared substantially the same methodology as the 2020 and 2021 reports, integrating a follow-up of the issues identified in the previous year and, as before, an analysis of the challenges raised by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Another novelty compared to the 2021 edition will be the integration of recommendations stemming from the assessments contained in the country chapters that will be integrated into the report itself. In this sense, these recommendations are a logical development of the clear assessments already made by the Commission. Their aim is to support Member States in their efforts to take forward current or planned initiatives, and to help them identify where recent changes or reforms need to be addressed.
In the context of this new report, dialogue will be stimulated at both European and national levels. In 2020, under the German Council Presidency, there were already two very constructive exchanges based on the report on the rule of law in the Council. In April 2021, this dialogue was continued with a second group of five Member States under the Portuguese Council Presidency. At the November 2021 Council, the Slovenian Presidency chose to continue this dialogue with a new group of five Member States. I already had the opportunity to present the second edition of the report last December to the French National Assembly and Senate and it is firmly on the agenda of the French Presidency of the Council in the first half of 2022.
In addition, I have been particularly keen to stimulate a similar dialogue at national parliamentary level, presenting the report to more than twenty parliaments, with whom I have had the opportunity to hold highly constructive discussions on the report’s conclusions and good practices in each Member State.
Finally, if respect for the rule of law throughout the European Union is not guaranteed, there is great risk of undermining mutual trust. This mutual trust is the sine qua non for the construction of the European judicial area and, in fact, the ability of courts, notaries, bailiffs and all practitioners to cooperate with each other across borders. In the space of just over twenty years and since the Tampere Declaration, Europe has developed comprehensive legislation on judicial cooperation not only in criminal matters but also in civil and commercial matters. Thanks to mutual trust and a very high level of cooperation, citizens and businesses enjoy a high degree of legal certainty when moving, investing or undertaking business from one Member State to another. The Commission is therefore active in facilitating the implementation of EU law at national level, providing practitioners with numerous tools and supporting, in particular, the European Judicial Network in Civil and Commercial Matters (EJN).
The Commission remains fully committed to using all the instruments at its disposal to defend and protect the rule of law in the European Union. European justice is a long-term project, and I am proud to have been involved in laying down further milestones in this project. This will remain a priority until the end of my mandate.
Forty years after 13 December, where is Poland going?
Tomasz ORLOWSKI
13 December is etched in the collective memory of Poles as the date of the 1981 communist coup d’état. On the same day, in 2007, the Lisbon Treaty was signed. I hoped that this coincidence would symbolically serve as the ’end of history’ and mark the happy advent of our European destiny. I remember saying this to Jacques Delors that day when I welcomed him to the Polish Embassy in Paris. Unfortunately, one now has the impression that I was overly optimistic. It is little consolation that I was not an exception, because that was the prevailing feeling at the time
The excesses
This article describes the state of my country forty years after the declaration of communist martial law and six years of rule by the national-conservative Law and Justice party (PiS). I had not imagined that I would have to add to this the restrictions on the freedom of the press. The new law, adopted by surprise and without debate, in violation of the rules of procedure of the Sejm (the Sejm, the lower house of parliament), seeks to remove any form of public control over the slightest risk of arbitrariness on the part of the authorities. It will thus take us back forty years. The law did not come into force because of the presidential veto, but this could be just a reprieve. In the situation where the government is trying to curb the freedom of the press, I have the unfortunate feeling that I have seen the times when Poles had to turn to the free press of friendly foreign countries to express their opinions.
It is always difficult and painful to speak critically about the situation in one’s own country, even when it is a matter of blatant abuse of power. I am obliged to do so for two reasons: firstly, what is happening in Poland at the moment may threaten other peoples who are confident of democracy, and it might also constitute a threat to the future of the European project; secondly, references to Poland are appearing more and more frequently in the French political debate and are widely used by all opponents of the European Union.
The only desirable way forward is the continuous and successful progress of European integration. I do not want what is happening to us to be an excuse for a change of direction, with Poland becoming a banner under which all opponents of the European Union would gather. The daily denials by Poland’s highest authorities that they have never seriously thought about a “Polexit” will not change the fact that this process is already underway, like a car whose brakes have failed. I understood this when, as ambassador in Rome, the Minister of Foreign Affairs answered me directly: “Who told you that an ever closer Union is this government’s objective?
The government’s goals
So what is the unstated goal of the current Polish government in relation to the European Union? One picturesque image is that it would like Europe to become a kind of League of Nations, idle but with a 24-hour ATM, where there is no limit to the amount that can be withdrawn. The atmosphere is fuelled by insulting, unfounded and scandalous parallels between the European Union and the Soviet Union, from the “Moscow empire” to the “Brussels empire”, all used by the leaders of the Law and Justice party. They are grooming public opinion, deliberately and tirelessly repeating the words “occupier”, “enemy”, “diktat” and trivialising them.
