Michael McGrath appointment: The jury is out on how influential he can be

How serious is Ursula von der Leyen about stopping the democratic rot insofar as her powers allow?

Michael McGrath's position as Ireland’s candidate for Commissioner was well tipped in advance. File picture: Eddie O'Hare

The jury’s out regarding the influence and impact Commissioner-delegate Michael McGrath can have on his assigned portfolio of EU Commissioner for Justice, Democracy and the Rule of Law.

On the face of it, the EU Commissioner for Justice is an important, relevant file and requires a competent, steely candidate. McGrath will need to be prepared for frequent confrontation, and ready to enforce rule of law measures including infringement proceedings against an ever-growing number of illiberal, eurosceptic member states.

But one of the key questions is how serious is President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen about stopping the democratic rot insofar as her powers allow? Several increasingly illiberal members receive scores of billions of euros from the EU budget while frequently breaching EU laws and values, yet the European Commission has failed to crackdown in any fundamental way.

During Ms von der Leyen’s tenure at the Commission, Hungary’s decline in democratic standard has hastened, as has Slovakia’s.

Last February, the EU issued proceedings against Hungary over its Kremlin-style Defence of Sovereignty Office — a new government authority with the power to ‘investigate’ news and civil society organisations funded from abroad.

The proceedings amounted to a legal letter requiring Hungary to respond to the Commission’s concerns that the office ‘violates “several fundamental rights”, enshrined in EU law, including privacy and the freedom of expression.

Critics say the point of the office is to stifle dissent. Hungary’s Secret Service is allowed to assist in the investigations.

And in June the Budapest government arm went after Transparency International (TI) the respected NGO which focuses on holding powerful and corrupt regimes worldwide to account.

TI says the investigation is based on false allegations that they have used foreign funding to influence voters. They also say the demands in the six-page letter from the Office are designed to distract from the work they do in rooting out corruption.

TI also called on the EU Commission to refer the matter to the Court of Justice of the EU, "requesting interim measures to suspend the enforcement of the Protection of National Sovereignty Act and protect civil society organisations and others working in Hungary who may face similar intimidation tactics".  

But the EU’s infringement proceedings — which tend to move at a glacial level has not yielded any such results.

It is one of a myriad of examples of Hungary’s disregard for basic democratic norms. The European Commission — the guardian of EU Law and treaties is the institution responsible for the rightful implementation of EU law as a protection of the EU Single market.

in response to Tuesday's announcement, Professor of EU law Alberto Alemanno said: 

Everything will be controlled by Von der Leyen — it’s the presidentialisation of the Commission.  She no longer has anyone challenging her like Breton, or Borrell. 

And current Commissioners Didier Reynders and Vera Jourova whose portfolios overlapped on Democracy and Rule of Law ‘struggled’ with her, he said.

'They both tried hard to protect rule of law but were often advised to pursue appeasement’, he said.

Meanwhile, Green party MEP from the European Parliament’s budgetary committee Daniel Freund said "business as usual" could not continue: 

There are signs that Von der Leyen does not want to provide any new impetus in the EU Commission when it comes to the rule of law.

"However, we will not be able to deal with the threats to European democracy by simply continuing with business as usual”, he said.

“Von der Leyen and the responsible Commissioners from Poland, Finland, and Ireland will have to show that they will confront Orban and co much more decisively than they have in the past.

“That means fewer concerned letters and more financial sanctions for those who break the rule of law”, he said.

McGrath's position as Ireland’s candidate for Commissioner was well tipped in advance, and undoubtedly the Government assumed he’d be offered a senior economic post.

But as Ursula von der Leyen explained, 20 member states requested big economic posts but "we don’t have 20 strong economic portfolios". 

Von der Leyen pointed out she has to consider the competence of the candidate, geography, and gender.