At a Snail’s Pace: How EU Bureaucracy Undermines Fundamental Rights

Abstract

The EU Commission has recently launched an infringement procedure against Bulgaria in view of its breaches of Directive 2016/343 on the presumption of innocence and on grounds I have been raising in formal complaints to EU institutions since 2018. My 5-year long disillusioning experience of raising concerns about Bulgaria's deliberate breaches of EU law before the EU Parliament and the EU Commission may serve as a case study providing some food for thought about the value of fundamental rights in the eyes of these EU institutions, as well as their handling of reasoned citizen complaints.

Keywords: rule of law, infringement proceedings, EU law, right to a fair trial, Directive 2016/343 on the presumption of innocence, ECHR