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The Chair of the European Parliament\u2019s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), Javier Zarzalejos, held a working meeting with a delegation from the Basque Parliament\u2019s Committee for the Improvement of Democratic Quality, composed of representatives from various political groups in the regional chamber.<\/p>\n
The meeting provided an opportunity to exchange experiences and reflections on the main challenges facing European democracies in a context marked by political polarisation, disinformation, foreign interference, and growing public distrust of institutions.<\/p>\n
During the meeting, the Basque MEP presented some of the key initiatives promoted by the European institutions to strengthen the democratic resilience of the Union. Among these, he highlighted the European Commission\u2019s Annual Rule of Law Report, which has become an essential tool for assessing the state of democracy, judicial independence, press freedom, and the fight against corruption across all Member States. In this regard, he also underscored the importance of the subsequent evaluation carried out by the LIBE Committee on the report\u2019s findings.<\/p>\n
Another topic discussed was the development of the so-called European Democracy Shield, an initiative aimed at strengthening the Union\u2019s capacity to counter disinformation campaigns, foreign interference, and hybrid threats seeking to undermine European democratic processes. In connection with this initiative, the European Parliament has established a special committee.<\/p>\n
The meeting also provided an opportunity to examine the various transparency and institutional integrity mechanisms in place at the European level, including compliance systems, transparency registers, and the regulation of lobbying activities. In this context, participants stressed the importance of strengthening public trust through effective accountability and good governance mechanisms.<\/p>\n
The participants also exchanged views on the implementation of EU law across the Member States. During the discussion, it was noted that Spain continues to rank among the countries with the greatest delays in transposing European directives, an issue that affects the proper implementation of EU legislation and has led to the creation of specific monitoring mechanisms at both national and European levels.<\/p>\n
Finally, the participants addressed a range of current European issues related to the future institutional development of the Union, the protection of democratic values, and the political challenges facing Europe in the current geopolitical context.<\/p>\n
The meeting forms part of the programme of activities that the Basque Parliament\u2019s Committee for the Improvement of Democratic Quality is carrying out in Brussels in order to gain first-hand knowledge of European initiatives aimed at strengthening democracy, the rule of law, and citizens\u2019 trust in public institutions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Chair of the European Parliament\u2019s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), Javier Zarzalejos, held a working meeting with a delegation from the Basque Parliament\u2019s Committee for the Improvement of Democratic Quality, composed of representatives from various political groups in the regional chamber. The meeting provided an opportunity to exchange experiences and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-events"],"yoast_head":"\n