Strengthening the Rule of Law within the European Union: Diagnoses, Recommendations, and What to Avoid
RECONNECT Policy Brief No. 1, 2019 (Leuven)
University of Groningen Faculty of Law Research Paper No. 28/2019
27 Pages Posted: 20 Jun 2019 Last revised: 14 Sep 2019
Date Written: June 13, 2019
Abstract
In the new context where the presumption of compliance with Article 2 TEU values by all the Union Member States does not hold, the threat of the progressive destruction of law by arbitrariness – rule of law rot – is real and present. This policy brief submitted by the members of the RECONNECT Horizon2020 consortium to the European Commission provides a critical overview of all the main legal-political tools available to the Member States and EU institutions to stop the Rule of Law rot, focusing on the possible improvements to the soft-law and secondary law instruments. It also provides a brief realistic critical assessment of the EU's Rule of Law ecosystem with a clear set of recommentations on what is to be avoided and what is to be prioritised in the current Rule of Law backsliding context. All the relevant instruments and approaches are briefly analysed including the potential deployment of, inter alia, Articles 2, 4(3), 7, 14(3), 19(1) TEU, 70, 258, 259, 267, 279, 325 TFEU, 39(2) CFR, CVM, CPR, ESIF systemic infringements, and many other tools.
Keywords: Rule of Law, Poland, Hungary, Values, Article 7, Enforcement
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