War as a Pretext to Wave the Rule of Law Goodbye? The Case for An EU Constitutional Awakening

Abstract

The war in Ukraine triggered significant changes at the European Union level. The speed at which the EU has achieved rapid progress on sanctions, migration and defense is particularly impressive. But the Russian aggression against Ukraine has also served as a pretext to put aside internal discussions about the rule of law, and provided additional political rationales for inaction against Member State governments responsible for the violation European values, as well as triggered the deepening of double standards in several fields. Against this background, the paper argues that using this crisis as a justification for further inaction in the context of EU values is not a sustainable course of action. The further erosion of EU values will have devastating consequences for the Member States and the Union as a whole, including in the very context of dealing with the crisis in Ukraine. The war at the European Union’s doorstep should rather be a sobering wake-up call to put a much greater emphasis of international norms and European values. The Union must not delay further to halt the insidious erosion of democracy and the rule of law within its own borders both at the national and supranational level.

Keywords: EU Law, Rule of Law, War in Ukraine, Illiberalism, Backsliding