“I’ve been coming to Luxembourg for 25 years now in various capacities, and I don’t know what the future will bring, but I wanted to thank you for your willingness to set an example in the way you opened the national debate on the report on the rule of law.” It was with these words that Didier Reynders, European Commissioner for Justice, concluded his speech to the Chamber of Deputies on Thursday 10 October.
The commissioner was in the grand duchy to present Luxembourg’s report on the rule of law for the fifth and final time. Reynders was not chosen by his Belgian party (Mouvement Réformateur) to be reappointed to the European Commission--Hadja Lahbib was appointed instead--and he also failed for the second time in his quest for the post of secretary general of the Council of Europe.
“Significant progress” in certain areas
“Since its first publication in 2020, the report has become a real driver for positive reforms: two-thirds (68%) of the recommendations issued in 2023 have been fully or partially taken into account. And we particularly note that Luxembourg has the will to have this debate on the rule of law, and is following our recommendations,” Reynders remarked.
In its report, the European Commission notes that with regard to the recommendations set out in the 2023 report on the rule of law, Luxembourg “has made significant progress in assessing the implementation of the new legislation on lobbying the parliament and the functioning of the transparency register, but has made no progress in ensuring that it meets the necessary transparency requirements set out in the parliament’s rules of procedure.”
National Justice Council commended
“We therefore recommend in particular that your country redouble its efforts to achieve full digitisation of civil, criminal and administrative proceedings, step up efforts to increase the amount of information contained in the transparency register, including by covering all the information provided for in the parliament’s rules of procedure, and press ahead with reform of the legal framework for disclosure of official documents, taking into account European standards on access to official documents,” the European Commissioner explained to MPs.
Asked by former justice minister (déi Gréng) about the draft law for easy and rapid access to official documents for professional journalists, “which has been criticised by journalists themselves because it does not mention a deadline for providing them with this information,” Reynders replied that “the transparency of administrations has improved since the publication of our last reports, but the country can still go further. We need to listen to what journalists are saying, the aim is to have easier access to official documents.” The commissioner also welcomed the creation of the National Justice Council, a project of the former justice minister, .
This article was originally published in .