Reinforcing Rule of Law Oversight in the European Union

Abstract

This paper provides a critical overview of options available to the EU to deal with the Rule of Law crisis in some of the Member States. The options it engages with were offered and discussed by a handful of the leading experts in the field and drawing on the critical EUI discussion, the first part of the paper tackles the following questions:

1. Why should the EU reinforce the oversight of Member States’ Rule of Law performance?

2. Are there sufficient legal bases for such oversight – should a reform of the Treaties be required?

3. What kind of procedure could be designed to meet the need of such oversight?

4. Which body should be entrusted with the oversight function?

The second part provides a word of caution warning of the possible problems related to the EU's involvement with the constitutional core of the Member States.

Keywords: EU Law, Rule of Law, Values, Article 2 TEU, Enforcement, Copenhagen Commission, Democracy, Hungary, Romania, Constitutionalism, Greece