Labour MEP Cyrus Engerer has been appointed the Socialists and Democrats rule of law negotiator in the EU, the Labour Party said in a statement on Tuesday. 

Engerer said he was honoured to be chosen for the role at the end of the European Parliament’s mandate and will be tasked to work on a report on the state of the rule of law in the EU at the end of the year. 

He has previously worked on numerous resolutions dealing with the rule of law in Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Malta and represented the parliament in meetings with the constitutional courts of Germany and Czechia. 

He is expected to hold similar meetings with other courts and institutions in Washington DC, in the United States and Ottawa in Canada in the coming weeks.

Engerer said that the monitoring of Democracy, the Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights is important to the European Union, as these represent the criteria needed for any country to join the European Union, known as the Copenhagen Criteria.

“Every Member State of the European Union is monitored every year by the European Commission.  Unfortunately, in the European Union, the biggest political group tries to hold back from debates on countries that have Rule of Law deficiencies simply because their Governments are of the same political family,” Engerer said.

“Therefore, this report will be looking at all European Union Member States and the general situation of the Rule of Law in Europe.”

In July, Engerer was appointed as a permanent parliamentary member of Europol's scrutiny board.

The role of the board is to continuously surveil Europol's operations and ensure that its objectives are achieved.