The European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, urges Portugal to make the judicial system “more transparent“, that is, in the fight against corruption, also asking the country to speed up the implementation of the new national anti-corruption mechanism.
“I would say that transparency is perhaps the most important word in the report and the recommendations on Portugal because it applies to the attribution of processes, when we speak on the fight against corruption or whether it is possible to start the operation of the so-called transparency entity”, defends the European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, in an interview with Lusa, in Brussels.
The position comes days after the European Commission recommended to Portugal, in its annual report on the rule of law, to guarantee the “sufficient resources to prevent, investigate and prosecute corruption“namely, to guarantee the rapid start-up of the new National Anti-Corruption Mechanism (MENAC).
According to Didier Reynders, this will be “a very useful instrument for the effective control and verification of the declaration of assets and to save the process of drafting laws” in Portugal.
Last May, the Minister of Justice, Catarina Sarmento e Castro, assured that the MENAC is “a priorityand will be implemented in 2022, and reiterated the Government’s commitment to combat economic and financial crime.
In addition to the recommendation on MENAC and the “commitments made within the scope of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan related to certain aspects of the judicial system”, the report recommends that Portugal continue “making efforts to guarantee adequate human resources in the judicial system…justice and improve its efficiency, in particular of the Administrative and Tax Courts, specifically by finalizing the legislative framework for the operation of the Superior Council of Administrative and Tax Courts”.
In the document, the community executive also points out that “the legislative framework for the protection of journalists remains strong“, but highlights the “new alerts after cyberattacks on media groups“.
Regarding the media area, also analyzed in the group of 27 in the annual report, Didier Reynders admits to Lusa “concern about the state of the media” in the EU.
“As you know, due to the economic crisis in the media sector, and with digitization, we need to be sure that there is a real regulatory body and authority in place, as is the case in Portugal,” he adds.
At the same time, according to the responsible European commissioner, “it is necessary to ensure that there is transparency about the ownership of the media and that there is a truly fair distribution of public advertising so as not to discriminate one medium over another. ”.
Didier Reynders says that he still has “concerns about violence against journalists in some Member States”, defending the protection of the rights of these professionals.
Source: Observadora
