This week the European Commission adopted a new framework to address potential breaches of EU law by Member States. The system aims to provide a detailed procedure to address situations in which Member States are party to systemic and persistent breaches.

During the new framework’s presentation, Commission President José Manuel Barroso emphasised that as part of the Commission's role as guardian of the Treaties it was also tasked with protecting EU values.

He also explained that the new mechanism will deal with “systemic threats” to EU values by serving as a warning sign to heads of state and providing space for dialogue between parties to avoid breaches and therefore prevent crises. The framework will however not be used to address individual cases of fundamental rights violations or justice miscarriages.

Compliance with the rule of law is a requisite for all countries which are members of the European Union and for those which aspire to membership. In recent years there have been instances where the Commission has been requested to take action against certain member states. The framework now being implemented seeks to increase transparency of the procedure, as well as create a mechanism that increases the likelihood of compliance and crisis prevention.

The proposed mechanism emerged after two debates within the College of Commissioners, which emphasized the need to develop a framework to address these issues at an EU level. This framework would consist of a set of institutionalized steps to complement potential sanctions to violators with early dialogue and warnings.

Prior to the drafting of this framework, breaches were addressed on an ad-hoc basis. Furthermore, when addressing an issue, the EU could only choose between filing a standard infringement procedure or invoking Article 7 of the Treaty of the European Union, which automatically removes a Member State’s EU voting rights.

Article 7, also known as “the nuclear option”, allows the Commission to depose a Member State’s voting rights in the EU Council of Ministers if they carry out a "serious and persistent breach" of any of the EU’s fundamental values. This sanction is meant to be used as a last resort to ensure compliance with European values. Article 7 has never been invoked but in 2000 its use was considered against Austria, and more recently in Hungary.

Instances where some had argued there may have been a potential breach include the handling of the Roma issue by the former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and an attempted crackdown on the judiciary in Romania.

The new framework consists of three main steps. The first involves information-gathering and the completion of an assessment by the Commission to ensure that indications of a systemic threat to the rule of law indeed exist.

The second step involves the Commission's public issuance of a "rule of law recommendation". The Commission will recommend that the issue at hand is solved within a fixed period of time, and request that the Member State keep the Commission informed on its proceedings.

The third and last step involves monitoring of the Member State's actions by the Commission and a review of its follow-up to the recommendation. If the follow-up is deemed unsatisfactory, then the Commission can resort to one of the mechanisms set out in Article 7.

During the process, the Commission is expected to maintain both the European Parliament and the European Council up-to-date on its proceedings.

The development of this new framework is fully based on the current EU Treaties and complements existing instruments. By being solely focused on the protection of the rule of law, it aims to ensure that the basic foundation of the Union is effectively preserved.

The rule of law ensures freedom and protection for all European citizens, thus it is of utmost importance that we continue developing more efficient ways to protect it and address situations in which its integrity is compromised.

By providing space for dialogue between the Commission and a member state in case of crisis, this framework will provide EU officials with the ability to find solutions before the existing legal mechanisms set out in Article 7 of the Treaty are invoked.

David Casa is the PN head of delegation in the European Parliament