Instead of the futile debates conducted to date about the rule of law, we must concentrate on the future of European justice cooperation, Minister of State for EU and International Justice Cooperation at the Ministry of Justice János Bóka stressed at the Monday video conference of EU justice ministers.

In a communication sent to the Hungarian news agency MTI, the Ministry of Justice stated that this was the first time justice ministers of the European Union had held a virtual meeting as part of an informal video conference during the German EU presidency.

Germany has held the EU presidency since 1 July.

The communication quoted Mr Bóka who welcomed the fact that the German EU presidency is seeking to gradually lead the European Union’s institutional functioning back to normality, and would like to support the restarting of the European economy.

Items on the agenda of the meeting included the fight against the coronavirus, democracy, witness protection, and action against hate speech and disinformation.

At the meeting, Mr Bóka stressed that justice ministers, too, would do well to evaluate the conclusions of the coronavirus epidemic; however, instead of the futile debates conducted to date about the rule of law, we must focus on the future of European justice cooperation.

According to the Minister of State, there would be a great need for discussing the issues of the digitisation of the judiciary and ongoing international justice cooperation which were especially important during the pandemic.

Mr Bóka would further seek to remedy the deficiency that the EU’s justice scoreboard comparing and evaluating the functioning of the courts of Member States has not yet featured on the agenda of the meeting of justice ministers despite the fact that its findings would also have an impact on the conclusions of the European Semester.

The Minister of State highlighted that the Hungarian government regards the availability of means for taking effective legal action against online crime as crucial. It was with a view to supporting effective action that the Ministry of Justice set up a digital freedom committee which is looking into the operation of transnational tech companies and is scrutinising legal issues related to their operations. This problem requires international and EU cooperation as not a single state is capable of taking effective action on its own, he stressed.

According to the Justice Ministry’s information, the Commission introduced the European Union’s strategy for the legal protection of victims for the period between 2020-2025. Mr Bóka recalled that Justice Minister Judit Varga had proposed already at the Zagreb meeting of justice ministers held in January 2020 that the protection of victims’ rights should take centre stage in justice cooperation during the next five-year institutional cycle.

Hungary played a leading role in the reorganisation of the European Network on Victims’ Rights (ENVR), and supports the further strengthening of its role, the Minister of State for EU and International Justice Cooperation at the Ministry of Justice added.

(Ministry of Justice/MTI)