The plenary session of the European Parliament has approved this Thursday a report on the Rule of Law for 2021, in response to the document prepared by the European Commission on the matter, in which an opinion of the Committee on Petitions has been introduced that regrets the attitude of the Generalitat de Catalunya at the time of “bragging” the non-compliance with judicial rulings “in the field of education flagrantly violating the right of children to study in the official language of their Member State”.
The approved report states in this way that the European Parliament “regrets the attitudes of the Catalan Government authorities”, not only for not enforcing the rulings on bilingualism and 25% of Spanish in the schools of the community, but also for “brag” about it. Thus, the Brussels Chamber “considers that these attitudes and actions, together with the harassment of the plaintiffs, endanger respect for the rule of law and the separation of powers, which seriously harms the law and the rights of citizens” .
In the same text, which after its parliamentary approval will go to the European Council, it is emphasized “that judicial responsibility, the independence of the judiciary and the execution of judicial decisions are essential components of the rule of law” and, therefore, , “calls on the Commission to enforce these fundamental values of the Union when they are violated by Member States or when Member States fail to act in case of violations committed by sub-state entities in order to increase citizens’ trust in the judiciary ».
To this end, the MEPs ask the European Commission “to use all the means at its disposal to act in this regard, in particular the rule of law conditionality mechanism, when appropriate” and that the Member States “protect judges and prosecutors from attacks and political pressure aimed at undermining their work, in order to fully guarantee their independence’. A real wake-up call for the Spanish authorities who, whether national or regional, that is, by inaction or by action, are violating the rights of children, in linguistic matters, in the classrooms of Catalonia recognized by the different courts of Justice.
The Cs-Renew MEP and member of the Committee on Petitions, Maite Pagazaurtundúa, defended during her speech at the plenary session this Thursday that: “The European Union has to enforce the rule of law even when governments remain impassive before sub-state entities that violate it, as the European Union has acted in the cases of the municipalities that declared LGTBi-free spaces in Poland, and as it should act in the case of Catalonia, where there are sentences that the ultra-nationalist government does not want to abide by either.
The same report also adds that the European Parliament “shows its total solidarity and full support for all victims of terrorism”, “condemns that governments currently in power negotiate with the leaders of armed gangs” and “regrets that there are still attacks unsolved terrorists, especially the 379 unsolved murders committed by the terrorist group ETA».
The report on the Rule of Law is annual and is prepared by the European Commission, which sends it to the European Parliament, an institution that adds to the document the considerations it deems appropriate and, after this, sends it to the European Council, made up of the 27 heads of State and Government of the European Union. Although the final report is not binding on the Council of Europe, it does indicate, in this case, the points for improvement regarding the rule of law in the member countries and sets out a line of action for the Commission and the Council.
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