We all benefit from a society based on common values – such as justice, equality, solidarity, or tolerance. In the European Union, these common values are enshrined in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU). The article lists six fundamental EU values that are common to the EU Member States: (i) human dignity, (ii) freedom, (iii) democracy, (iv) equality, (v) rule of law, and (vi) human rights (including the rights of people who belong to minorities). The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has underlined that these values ‘define the very identity of the European Union as a common legal order’. The European Parliament strongly exercises its powers to ensure all EU countries respect these values. Let’s take a look at how Parliament has continued to protect EU values and fundamental rights during the 2019-2024 legislative term.
The EU institutions can ensure all EU countries uphold these values through monitoring, preventive and sanctioning mechanisms. For example, when a breach of the rule of law affects the EU’s financial interests, the Conditionality Regulation allows the EU to suspend or cut funding. Even though the European Parliament cannot trigger the mechanism itself, it has repeatedly called on the European Commission to do so, and has even taken the Commission to the ECJ over its inactivity. Parliament decided to take the Commission to court again in March 2024, this time because the Commission unfroze funds for Hungary despite persistent concerns over respect for EU values in that Member State.
Parliament had already activated the preventive mechanism enshrined in Article 7(1) of the TEU in 2018, to call formally on the Council to establish that Hungary might seriously breach EU values. Parliament’s concerns covered a broad array of issues, including the functioning of the constitutional and electoral system, minority rights and the freedom of expression. However the Council has blocked these proceedings since 2018. Parliament has continued to urge the Member States to take a decision.
To make its voice better heard in matters of fundamental rights and EU values, Parliament has called repeatedly for a mechanism on democracy, rule of law and fundamental rights to facilitate cooperation between the Parliament, Council and Commission. Moreover, Parliament has regularly adopted topical resolutions on issues relating to the rule of law, fundamental rights and EU values more generally, in particular in reaction to the Commission’s annual rule of law reports. In response to Parliament’s calls, the Commission included country-specific recommendations for each of the 27 EU Member States from 2022 – and takes stock of progress in addressing those recommendations since 2023.
Parliament’s focus on protecting human rights is therefore evidenced in its exercise of influence on constitutional issues to ensure EU values are respected. Parliament’s powers fall broadly into six, often overlapping, domains: law-making, the budget, scrutiny of the executive, external relations, and, to a lesser extent, constitutional affairs and agenda-setting. This graphic shows more examples of areas where Parliament used one or more of its different powers to influence legislation:
For a fuller picture of the European Parliament’s activity over the past five years, take a look at our publication Examples of Parliament’s impact: 2019 to 2024: Illustrating the powers of the European Parliament, from which this case is drawn.
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