The Acquis and Its Principles: The Enforcement of the ‘Law’ versus the Enforcement of ‘Values’ in the European Union

Abstract

This book chapter emphasizes the importance of rethinking the approach to the enforcement of EU values as listed in Article 2 TEU. The on-going disregard of the key values of the Union in Hungary and Poland, illustrates with utmost clarity the Union’s helplessness in ensuring reliable and timely enforcement of the core of its law, as reflected in the key principles of democracy and the Rule of Law, which the Treaty of Lisbon has most misleadingly rebranded as ‘values’. Besides articulating the legal nature of Article 2 principles and providing a brief overview of the role played by the key principles of Article 2 in the context of EU law’s evolution, the focus turns to the gap in the general EU law enforcement literature which tends to focus on the technical issues while ignoring the bigger picture, and, finally, a critical survey of the key approaches to the enforcement of the principles of Article 2, which the Union could rely on in bridging the enforcement gap and bringing its defiant Member States to compliance.

Keywords: EU values, EU law, enforcement, compliance, rule of law, democracy, Hungary, Poland, Article 2