site.btaEuropean Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee to Focus on Rule of Law

The main focus of the Committee on Legal Affairs in the European Parliament will be the rule of law. Conflict of interest issues, immunity issues and the European Magnitsky Act are among the priorities for the committee, BTA learned from MEP Ilhan Kyuchyuk ("Renew Europe"/MRF) who was elected chairman of the committee.

According to Kyuchyuk, the Committee is committed to deal with issues related to conflict of interest, issues related to immunities, which should protect the EU from potential external influence and last but not least - new legislative ideas for a possible "European Magnitsky" act, which should include the fight against corruption. So far, this element has failed to fit into the general concept of EU sanctions, Kyuchyuk said. In his words, European Magnitsky-type legislation has always been a policy for the European Liberals Group in the European Parliament and envisages extending the sanctions package to include elements of corrupt practices. 

In this committee, the main focus will be the rule of law, where there is room to build on as a European mechanism. The institutional framework and accompanying instruments are in place, but we need these instruments to gain the trust of European citizens, Kyuchyuk said. 

He pointed out that one of the biggest problems in the EU is related to bureaucracy. It is high time that the legislation, which mainly comes from the European Commission, be relevant to the expectations of European citizens, the MEP noted. 

Among the main tasks before the Committee on Legal Affairs will be the reduction of bureaucracy, and the evaluation of the current legislation before fabricating a new one. Many ideas are undoubtedly good, but they are not correlated with citizens' problems. If people do not find this legislation essential, it achieves the opposite and bureaucratises businesses, small farms and ultimately slows down the EU's economic upturn, Kyuchyuk said.