On 4 February, the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs adopted the provisional agreement between the European Parliament and the Council on the Justice Programme and the Rights and Values Programme for 2021-2027.

Thanks to the hard work of the Renew Europe Group in the European Parliament, the Rights and Values Programme will ensure that the European Union is able to strengthen its capacity to respond to the deterioration of the rule of law, democracy and fundamental rights while reinforcing its prevention mechanisms. Furthermore, the Group's strong determination made it possible to secure more money within the Justice Programme dedicated to programmes promoting the rule of law.  Fundamental Rights, Values and Justice are the Renew Europe group's core values, and the adoption of the two programmes is a clear sign of that.

Anna Donáth MEP, Renew Europe’s LIBE shadow rapporteur for ‘Rights & Values’ Programme said: 

"It is a great achievement that we secured more than 600 million euros for the protection of European Values, rule of law, media pluralism and protection of civil society. I would expect nothing less from the Commission that they will be very careful in spending these funds in those Member States where the rule of law is in danger."

Ramona Strugariu MEP, Renew Europe’s LIBE shadow rapporteur for the Justice' Programme concluded:

“I am glad that through the distribution of the expenditure, we managed to clearly reflect a main priority for Renew Europe - the enforcement of the rule of law principle. We managed to secure more than 60% of the resources for this specific purpose and dedicate the additional 10% flexibility margin to the promotion of the rule of law within the Union.”

Photo credit: Fred Marvaux and Mathieu Cugnot, European Parliament 2020.