THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION. Reforming Europe in a time of war

THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION 68 and quality of justice (greater digitalisation and greater ease in accessing the justice system). However, causes for concern of a structural nature persist regarding the independence of justice systems and the autonomy of prosecution services. In this respect, the report has highly critical recom- mendations for Poland and Hungary regarding the lack of independence of the national councils for the judiciary and over the appointment of judges, noting more qualified crit- icism in other countries such as Belgium, Ireland, Slovakia and Portugal, or Spain (particularly regarding the delay in the renewal of the CGPJ [General Council of the Judici- ary]). Other criticism is aimed at Malta, Greece,Austria and Lithuania over the appointment of judges in higher courts. Regarding the independence and autonomy of the prosecution services, the greatest criticism is levelled, once again, at Poland and Hungary, accompanied by Slovenia. Spain is recommended not to make the end of a government’s term of office coincide with that of the Prosecutor General 50 . Rules regarding the battle against corruption 51 The report underscores how, despite the improvement in national plans and legislation to combat corruption, recognised, for instance, in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, the public’s perception continues to be that corruption is a cause for serious concern (among as much as 68%) 52 . In particular, the report notes as a major cause for concern that the periods of investigation and trial for cor- ruption remain very long (particularly in Malta, Czechia and Spain), while more serious still is the absence of investigations and the application of dissuasive sanctions (Poland, Bulgaria, Greece and Hungary). 50  Page 7. 51  Idem Pages 10 to 17. 52  https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2021 Media pluralism and media freedom 53 The report states that, as the disinformation war shows, the preservation of media freedom and pluralism is crucial for safeguarding our rule of law, and to this effect it is necessary to improve the security and working conditions of journalists, paying particular attention to media own- ership, transparency as regards the distribution of state advertising and conflict of interests; and including public service media in this assessment for the first time. In this field, the countries with the most critical level of risk and which receive specific recommendations are Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Romania and Slovenia. Institutional checks and balances 54 The report notes a positive development as regards the improvement in the quality of the legislative process in the large majority of states, and in the national systems of institutional counterbalances (constitutional courts, human rights institutions and ombudspersons and other independent authorities), as well as a conducive environ- ment for the work of civil society organisations. The report includes a series of improvements in this area, such as the need to have a formal national frame- work for the consultation of stakeholders (particularly in Cyprus, Malta, Greece, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania); or the improvement of observance of Eu- ropean Court of Human Right judgments (underscoring that in the last 10 years and on average among the 27 states around 40% of the Strasbourg court’s judgments have not been implemented) 55 . In conclusion, this report has enormous potential to secure debates between the European institutions 53  Idem pages 17 to 22. 54  Idem pages 22 to 26. 55  According to the figures gathered in the joint report by the European Implementation Network and Democracy Reporting International: Justice delayed and Justice denied: non implementation of European Courts Judgments and the Rule of Law. April 2022.