2022 Rule of Law Report Country Chapter on the rule of law situation in Belgium Accompanying the document Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions 2022 Rule of Law Report The rule of law situation in the European Union {COM(2022) 500 final} - {SWD(2022) 502 final} - {SWD(2022) 5

Abstract

Concrete and comprehensive initiatives are ongoing to increase significantly the level of digitalisation of the Belgian justice system by 2026. Further steps are being taken towards the transfer of judicial management powers from the executive to the judiciary. The High Council for Justice continues its efforts to improve the independence, quality, and efficiency of the justice system, in particular by conducting audits and issuing opinions on draft legislation. The lack of human and financial resources remains a challenge for the justice system, but significant investments and initiatives aim to address this. A persistent lack of court data still hampers progress on the efficiency of justice, but initiatives are ongoing to remedy this issue. While additional human resources are being granted to help address backlogs, particularly lengthy delays reported in certain courts remain a source of concern. Although aspects related to corruption are included in the national security strategy and different action plans, as well as multiple coordination platforms, Belgium has no specific overarching anti-corruption strategy. The situation at the Central Office for the Repression of Corruption has improved, including in terms of results in high-level corruption cases, however, its resources continue to be overall limited. Generally, there is good compliance with the requirement to declare assets and mandates, however, the verification and transparency of such declarations remains an issue of concern. The system to report potential foreign bribery cases is in place but obstacles to the successful prosecution of such cases include the statute of limitations, a lack of prioritisation of cases, and difficulties to obtain evidence. Mainstreaming integrity rules in the police is a challenge, with each police zone having its own rules. A broad integrity policy for Ministers, their Cabinets and as well as members of Parliament remains lacking and existing codes of conduct continue to have gaps. There are no clear and consistent rules in place on how to deal with gifts and benefits for Parliament and Government. Initial steps were taken towards a reform of the legislative framework regarding lobbying, and a reform of the legislation on whistleblowing is ongoing. Gaps continue to exist in the rules on revolving doors, in particular relating to their scope and to a lack of transitory measures. A robust legal framework and independent media regulators continue to ensure media pluralism. Specific safeguards for the governance and the operational and editorial independence of the public service broadcasters guarantee their autonomy and impartiality. The media markets of the three linguistic Communities remain highly concentrated. Recent legislation introducing new refusal grounds, and delays in treating public document requests might affect the right to access public documents. Cases of physical or verbal abuse as well as online and offline threats are an increasing source of concern for journalists. While there are sporadic reports about police officers seizing and erasing journalistic material, recent jurisprudence has brought clarity about the possibility for journalists to film police interventions and courts enforce robust legal safeguards. The Council of State and the Constitutional Court, as well as other independent institutions with an important role in the system of checks and balances, face some challenges regarding resources, but certain steps are being taken to address this. The pandemic law that provided a new legal basis for pandemic emergency measures was deactivated in March 2022, and the Constitutional Court will rule on its constitutionality. Civil society is being regularly involved in Government initiatives, but a certain narrowing of the civil society landscape has been reported. A citizen consultation process was held on the preparation of a future State reform.