The EU is taking Belgium to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) over a failure to transpose a European Directive on the right to access to a lawyer and communication in the event of an arrest.
The deadline to transpose the directive was 27 November 2016. The ruling underlines "the right of a minor to have access to a lawyer in a concrete and effective manner, derogation from the right of access to a lawyer due to geographical remoteness, and derogations from the right of access to a lawyer in criminal proceedings".
Belgium has failed to account for the directive in national law despite numerous warnings from the Commission, and so is obliged to appear before the CJEU.
"We certainly are taking the European Commission's recommendations seriously," a member of Minister for Justice Paul Van Tigchelt's (Open VLD) cabinet told l'Avenir. "It took some time to prepare the law because it was necessary to consult experts such as the public prosecutor, magistrates and lawyers. We now have a new draft law responding to the Commission's concerns that will be submitted to parliament."
Growing list of grievances
This is not the first time Belgium has clashed with Europe over the rule of law. Since 2019, thousands of judgements from Belgian and European courts have deemed the country to be in violation of its duty to welcome international protection applicants. The Human Rights League (LDH) issued a damning report in January in which it stated that the Belgium's rule of law crisis "persisted, intensified and even became normalised" in 2023.
This latest instalment has given fuel to a media campaign led by Eva Kailli and other key figures of the Qatargate scandal aiming to denigrate the Belgian justice system. "True. Finally," Kailli posted on social media in reaction to the announcement of Belgium's court date.
The summons comes during the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU, which lists defending the rule of law as one of its key priorities during its six-month leadership term.
