Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union

Last updated

Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union is a procedure in the treaties of the European Union (EU) to suspend certain rights from a member state. While rights can be suspended, there is no mechanism to expel a state from the union.

Contents

The procedure is covered by TEU Article 7. It would be enacted where fellow members identify another member as persistently breaching the EU's founding values (respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities), as outlined in TEU Article 2.

The European Council can vote to suspend any rights of membership, such as voting and representation as outlined above. Identifying the breach requires unanimity (excluding the state concerned) [lower-alpha 1] , but sanctions require only a qualified majority. [1] The Council acting by majority may alter or lift such sanctions. The state in question would still be bound by the obligations of the treaties.

Background

Article 7

1. On a reasoned proposal by one third of the Member States, by the European Parliament or by the European Commission, the Council, acting by a majority of four fifths of its members after obtaining the consent of the European Parliament, may determine that there is a clear risk of a serious breach by a Member State of the values referred to in Article 2. Before making such a determination, the Council shall hear the Member State in question and may address recommendations to it, acting in accordance with the same procedure.

The Council shall regularly verify that the grounds on which such a determination was made continue to apply.

2. The European Council, acting by unanimity on a proposal by one third of the Member States or by the Commission and after obtaining the consent of the European Parliament, may determine the existence of a serious and persistent breach by a Member State of the values referred to in Article 2, after inviting the Member State in question to submit its observations.

3. Where a determination under paragraph 2 has been made, the Council, acting by a qualified majority, may decide to suspend certain of the rights deriving from the application of the Treaties to the Member State in question, including the voting rights of the representative of the government of that Member State in the Council. In doing so, the Council shall take into account the possible consequences of such a suspension on the rights and obligations of natural and legal persons.

The obligations of the Member State in question under this Treaty shall in any case continue to be binding on that State.

4. The Council, acting by a qualified majority, may decide subsequently to vary or revoke measures taken under paragraph 3 in response to changes in the situation which led to their being imposed.

5. The voting arrangements applying to the European Parliament, the European Council and the Council for the purposes of this Article are laid down in Article 354 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union

Article 2

The Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. These values are common to the Member States in a society in which pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality between women and men prevail.

Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union

Following the fall of the Berlin Wall the EU began to consider enlargement to the former Eastern Bloc states. With concerns over the EU's ability to intervene where its core principles and values were violated, there was a desire to introduce some mechanism before enlargement to those states took place. This came to be via the Treaty of Amsterdam which allowed the suspension of rights of a member state which breached the EU's values under Article 2. [2]

In early 2000, Austria formed a government which included the right-wing populist [3] [4] Freedom Party. Invoking Article 7 was deemed excessive so other member states threatened to cut off diplomatic contacts instead. This event led to a desire for an intermediate step to provide a warning sign without full suspension. [5] [6]

The Treaty of Nice provided this (in Article 7.1) whereby the Council, acting by majority, may identify a potential breach and make recommendations to the state to rectify it before action is taken against it as outlined above. [1] In 2014 the European Commission introduced a three step mechanism to identify "systemic threats" to EU values. The mechanism must be complete before Article 7 is discussed. [7]

Process

Article 7.1: The mechanism begins with a proposal to find a "Clear Risk of Serious Breach" of EU values either by the Commission, the Parliament or one-third of member states. This is then approved by a two-thirds majority in Parliament. The accused country is then called to answer to the Council, which may then issue recommendations and vote by four-fifths to identify a breach. [8]

Article 7.2: In the event of a "serious and persistent breach" (i.e. the country does not heed the Council's guidance) then the Commission or one-third of countries, approved by a two-thirds majority in Parliament, calls the country to answer to the European Council again. The European Council must then decide unanimously [lower-alpha 1] to proceed to Article 7.3.

Article 7.3: Once the European Council has unanimously decided that the breach is still occurring, the Council then votes by qualified majority to suspend rights of the accused country, including voting rights within the Council, until all duties are fulfilled.

Usage

In its early history, from about 2000 to 2012, the possibility of activating Article 7 was debated but official recommendations were not made. Events for which activation of Article 7 was debated include the aforementioned Austrian coalition with the far right in 2000, the French government expulsion of thousands of Roma in 2009 and a political struggle in Romania between Traian Băsescu and Victor Ponta in 2012. [2]

Use against Hungary

In June 2015, the European Parliament asked the Commission to present a proposal for starting the mechanism against Hungary over rule of law concerns in the country; but in October voted down a similar proposal to begin procedures against Hungary over its treatment of migrants. [7] At the same time, a European Citizens' Initiative called for the start of Article 7 mechanisms against Hungary. [9]

On 12 September 2018, the European Parliament voted for action against Hungary, alleging breaches of core EU values. [10] [11]

UK Conservative MEPs supported the right wing Hungarian leader, Viktor Orbán, against a motion to censure him in the European Parliament. [12] Pablo Casado, leader of Spain's People's Party directly ordered the PP members of the European Parliament to abstain in the voting of the Sargentini report calling for triggering Article 7 proceedings against the Hungarian government of Viktor Orbán. [13]

On 30 March 2020, in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the Hungarian Parliament approved a bill to make the state of emergency indefinite and grant the ability for Prime Minister Orbán to rule by decree. [14] The bill also makes the deliberate distribution of "misleading information that obstructs responses to the pandemic" punishable by up to five years in prison. The bill faced opposition for containing indefinite restrictions on these powers, as well as concerns over the possibility that the "fake news" prohibition in the bill could be abused for censorship of independent media outlets. [15] [16] [17] As a result, European Parliament group leaders raised concerns, in a meeting of the Conference of Presidents, about the emergency measures and a majority of groups asked Parliamentary President David Sassoli to relay their concerns in a letter to the Commission and to consider activating the Article 7 procedure. [18] In June 2020, the Hungarian parliament voted to end the rule by decree, but this left the government more powerful than before the crisis. [19]

Usage of Article 7 was discussed again in January 2024 when Hungary blocked unanimous EU support for Ukraine. [20] [21]

Freedom House ratings for European Union and surrounding states, in 2019.
.mw-parser-output .legend{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .legend-color{display:inline-block;min-width:1.25em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25;margin:1px 0;text-align:center;border:1px solid black;background-color:transparent;color:black}.mw-parser-output .legend-text{}
Free
Partly free
Not free European Union neighbour states by freedom.svg
Freedom House ratings for European Union and surrounding states, in 2019.
  Free
  Partly free
  Not free

Use against Poland

From the end of 2015, the Polish government became subject to European Union criticism over its media and judiciary changes and the European Commission began action against Poland in January 2016. [6] On 20 December 2017, the European Commission triggered Article 7 for the first time in relation to Polish judicial reforms because, in the view of the Commission, they remove the separation of powers between the executive and the judiciary. "After two years, the Commission can only conclude that there is now a clear risk of a serious breach of the rule of law," Vice President Frans Timmermans added. Any action to deprive Poland of its voting rights would require a unanimous vote of its fellow member states. As of December 2017, Hungary would be expected to exercise its veto in Poland's favour.

Expulsion

While a state can be suspended, there is no provision to expel a member state outright. The idea appeared in the drafting of the European Constitution and the Lisbon Treaty but failed to be included. There are a number of considerations which make such a provision impractical. Firstly, a member state leaving would require amendments to the treaties, and amendments require unanimity. Unanimity would be impossible to achieve if the state did not want to leave of its own free will. Secondly it is legally complicated, particularly with all the rights and privileges being withdrawn for both sides that would not be resolved without an orderly and voluntary withdrawal. Third, the concept of expulsion goes against the spirit of the treaties. But it is possible and there is a rule, article 50, allowing a member to expel itself, which the United Kingdom did. In this article, all treaties simply cease to apply to the member leaving, adjusted by a possible treaty with the said member. Contrary to expulsion, most available sanctions are conciliatory, not punitive; they do not punish a state for failing to live up to fellow states' demands, but encourage a state to fulfill its treaty obligations. [23]

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 The country concerned is excluded from the voting as defined in the Article 354.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treaty on European Union</span> Treaty setting out the basis of European Union law

The Treaty on European Union (2007) is one of the primary Treaties of the European Union, alongside the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). The TEU forms the basis of EU law, by setting out general principles of the EU's purpose, the governance of its central institutions, as well as the rules on external, foreign and security policy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treaty of Nice</span> EU treaty of 2001

The Treaty of Nice was signed by European leaders on 26 February 2001 and came into force on 1 February 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe</span> 2004 failed attempt to formally establish a constitution of the European Union

The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe was an unratified international treaty intended to create a consolidated constitution for the European Union (EU). It would have replaced the existing European Union treaties with a single text, given legal force to the Charter of Fundamental Rights, and expanded qualified majority voting into policy areas which had previously been decided by unanimity among member states.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Constitutional Court of Hungary</span>

The Constitutional Court of Hungary is a special court of Hungary, making judicial review of the acts of the Parliament of Hungary. The official seat of the Constitutional Court is Budapest. Until 2012 the seat was Esztergom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">European People's Party</span> European centre-right political party

The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, liberal-conservative, and conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Founded by primarily Christian-democratic parties in 1976, it has since broadened its membership to include liberal-conservative parties and parties with other centre-right political perspectives. On 31 May 2022, the party elected as its President Manfred Weber, who was also EPP's Spitzenkandidat in 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Consent procedure</span>

The consent procedure is one of the special legislative procedures of the European Union. Introduced by the Single European Act, under this procedure, the Council of the European Union must obtain the European Parliament's consent (assent) before certain decisions can be made. Acceptance (consent) requires an absolute majority of votes in Parliament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manfred Weber</span> German politician

Manfred Weber is a German politician who has served as President of the European People's Party (EPP) since 2022 and as Leader of the EPP Group in the European Parliament since 2014. He has been a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Germany since 2004. He is a member of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU), part of the European People's Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Withdrawal from the European Union</span> Legal process of Article 50 of the Treaty of European Union

Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) provides for the possibility of an EU member state leaving the European Union "in accordance with its own constitutional requirements".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Democratic legitimacy of the European Union</span>

The question of whether the governance of the European Union (EU) lacks democratic legitimacy has been debated since the time of the European Economic Community in the late 1970s. This led in part to an elected European Parliament being created in 1979 and given the power to approve or reject EU legislation. Since then, usage of the term has broadened to describe newer issues facing the European Union. Voter turnout at the elections to the European Parliament fell consecutively at every election from the first in 1979 up to 2014 when it hit a low of 42.54%, before finally rising in 2019. The 2014 turnout figure is lower than that of any national election in the 27 countries of the European Union, where turnout at national elections averages 68% across the EU.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Member state of the European Union</span> State that is a participant in the treaties of the European Union (EU)

The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union of 27 member states that are party to the EU's founding treaties, and thereby subject to the privileges and obligations of membership. They have agreed by the treaties to share their own sovereignty through the institutions of the European Union in certain aspects of government. State governments must agree unanimously in the Council for the union to adopt some policies; for others, collective decisions are made by qualified majority voting. These obligations and sharing of sovereignty within the EU make it unique among international organisations, as it has established its own legal order which by the provisions of the founding treaties is both legally binding and supreme on all the member states. A founding principle of the union is subsidiarity, meaning that decisions are taken collectively if and only if they cannot realistically be taken individually.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Voting in the Council of the European Union</span> Method to take decisions in the EU Council

The procedures for voting in the Council of the European Union are described in the treaties of the European Union. The Council of the European Union has had its voting procedure amended by subsequent treaties and currently operates on the system set forth in the Treaty of Lisbon. The system is known as qualified majority voting is a type of consociational democracy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Enhanced cooperation</span> European Union procedure

In the European Union (EU), enhanced cooperation is a procedure where a minimum of nine EU member states are allowed to establish advanced integration or cooperation in an area within EU structures but without the other members being involved. As of October 2017, this procedure is being used in the fields of the Schengen acquis, divorce law, patents, property regimes of international couples, and European Public Prosecutor and is approved for the field of a financial transaction tax.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treaty of Lisbon</span> 2007 treaty amending the constitutional basis of the European Union

The Treaty of Lisbon is an international agreement that amends the two treaties which form the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU). The Treaty of Lisbon, which was signed by all EU member states on 13 December 2007, entered into force on 1 December 2009. It amends the Maastricht Treaty (1992), known in updated form as the Treaty on European Union (2007) or TEU, as well as the Treaty of Rome (1957), known in updated form as the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (2007) or TFEU. It also amends the attached treaty protocols as well as the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judith Sargentini</span> Dutch politician

Judith Sargentini is a former Dutch politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP). She is a member of the GreenLeft party, which is part of The Greens–European Free Alliance, and the European Green Party. Previously, she was chair of the party's delegation in Amsterdam's city council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second Orbán Government</span>

The second government of Viktor Orbán or the Government of National Cooperation was the Government of Hungary from 29 May 2010 to 6 June 2014. Orbán formed his second cabinet after his party, Fidesz won the outright majority in the first round on April 11, with the Fidesz-KDNP alliance winning 206 seats, including 119 individual seats. In the final result, they won 263 seats, of which 173 are individual seats. Fidesz held 227 of these seats, giving it an outright majority in the National Assembly by itself.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polish Constitutional Tribunal crisis (2015 – ongoing)</span>

The Polish Constitutional Tribunal crisis has been an ongoing political conflict in Poland starting in the second half of 2015 over the appointment of five of the 15 judges of the Constitutional Tribunal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2024 European Parliament election</span> Upcoming election for the 10th European Parliament

The 2024 European Parliament election is scheduled to be held on 6 to 9 June 2024. This will be the tenth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first European Parliament election after Brexit.

The Polish constitutional crisis, also known as the Polish rule-of-law crisis, is a political conflict ongoing since 2015 in which the Polish government has been accused of failing to comply with European and Polish constitutional law. The 2015 elections resulted in the Law and Justice party winning control of both the presidency and the parliament. With this government trifecta, PiS used its power to appoint judges to the Constitutional Tribunal in 2015, leading to the 2015 Polish Constitutional Court crisis. The government of Poland continued to expand its hold on the judiciary resulting in the 2017 Supreme Court crisis, and the 2019 Polish judicial disciplinary panel law. These events allowed the legislature and executive of the Polish government to have de facto control over judges and their appointments.

This is a timeline of the relations between Hungary and the European Union (EU), since the transition in Hungary in 1989-90.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation</span> Regulation of the European Union and Euratom

The Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation is a regulation of the European Union and Euratom, which allows the European Commission to adopt measures, including the suspension of payment of funds from the EU budget, to member states which violate the principles of rule of law enshrined in article 2 of the Treaty on European Union.

References

  1. 1 2 Suspension clause, Eur-Lex glossary, accessed 15 September 2022
  2. 1 2 Article 7 sanctions: a legal expert explains the EU’s ‘nuclear option, the conversation 28 July 2017
  3. Martin Dolezal; Swen Hutter; Bruno Wüest (2012). "Exploring the new cleavage in across arenas and public debates: designs and methods". In Edgar Grande; Martin Dolezal; Marc Helbling; et al. (eds.). Political Conflict in Western Europe. Cambridge University Press. p. 52. ISBN   978-1-107-02438-0 . Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  4. Hans-Jürgen Bieling (2015). "Uneven development and 'European crisis constitutionalism', or the reasons for and conditions of a 'passive revolution in trouble'". In Johannes Jäger; Elisabeth Springler (eds.). Asymmetric Crisis in Europe and Possible Futures: Critical Political Economy and Post-Keynesian Perspectives. Routledge. p. 110. ISBN   978-1-317-65298-4.
  5. EU can still block Hungary’s veto on Polish sanctions Politico 11 January 2016
  6. 1 2 EU takes unprecedented step against Poland over rule of law Euractiv 4 January 2016
  7. 1 2 What is Article 7? Politico 13 January 2016
  8. "Running the Rule over Article 7 Explainer". EURACTIV.com. EURACTIV.com. 17 September 2018. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
  9. Commission registers call for EU sanctions on Hungary, EU Observer 30 November 2016
  10. European Parliament to trigger article 7 procedure against a member state
  11. "EU parliament votes to punish Hungary over 'breaches' of core values". BBC News . Archived from the original on 8 June 2023.
  12. Watts, Joe (13 September 2018). "Conservatives are backing far-right Viktor Orban to boost Theresa May's Brexit plans, say Muslim Council of Britain". The Independent. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  13. Riego, Carmen (12 September 2018). "El líder del PP ordena abstenerse en la sanción europea a Hungría". La Vanguardia .
  14. Walker, Shaun (23 March 2020). "Hungary to consider bill that would allow Orbán to rule by decree". The Guardian . Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  15. Roache, Madeline (30 March 2020). "Hungary's PM Orban gets sweeping powers to tackle coronavirus". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  16. "Coronavirus: Special Powers Granted to Gov't to Fight Pandemic". Hungary Today. 30 March 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  17. "'Hungary is no longer a democracy,' says Hungarian legal scholar". DW. 14 May 2020. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  18. "European Parliament to hold extraordinary plenary on 16 and 17 April" (Press release). European Parliament. 2 April 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  19. "Hungary votes to end coronavirus emergency powers". BBC News. 16 June 2020. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  20. "EU threatens to silence Hungary if it blocks Ukrainian funds". POLITICO. 26 January 2024. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
  21. O'Carroll, Lisa (26 January 2024). "EU president to stay in post amid fears of Viktor Orbán getting role". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  22. Freedom House (6 February 2019). "Democracy in Retreat". Freedom in the World. Archived from the original on 5 February 2019. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
  23. Athanassiou, Phoebus (December 2009) Withdrawal and Expulsion from the EU and EMU, Some Reflections (PDF), European Central Bank. Accessed 8 September 2011