10 December 2018
Europe’s Shameful Silence – An Open Letter to EU Leaders from Jean Monnet Chairs
In tomorrow's Council meeting the CEU eviction from Hungary will be a point of discussion. But what is required is taking some action. An open letter to Presidents Juncker, Tajani, and Tusk. Continue reading >>
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12 November 2018
Never Missing an Opportunity to Miss an Opportunity: The Council Legal Service Opinion on the Commission’s EU budget-related rule of law mechanism
Regrettably, we need to add the Council’s Legal Service to the list of key EU actors that seem intent on ignoring the existential threat to the Union posed by the spreading rule of law rot amongst EU member governments. In a (non-public) opinion on the proposed regulation of the Commission to create rule of law conditionality in the multi-annual financial framework adopted on 25 October 2018, the CLS indeed put forward multiple unpersuasive legal arguments to claim that the Commission’s proposal cannot be adopted. With this opinion, the CLS is advising the Council to actually prevent other institutions of the EU from doing their job to uphold and defend the set of common values on which the EU is based. Continue reading >>07 August 2018
Open Letter
We, the undersigned, have learnt that Chief Justice of the […] Continue reading >>28 May 2018
“A Bad Workman always Blames his Tools”: an Interview with LAURENT PECH
Constitutional capture in Poland and Hungary and what to expect from the European Commission, the Council and the Court of Justice: an interview with Laurent Pech. Continue reading >>10 March 2018
Is There A Better Way Forward?
Poland and Hungary have governments that are systematically undermining constitutional checks on the power of their leaders and deliberately turning all state institutions into arms of the party. Those cases demand that the EU’s full powers be urgently directed to averting a full-blown autocracy within the EU. What can be done? Continue reading >>
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09 March 2018
Didn’t the EU Learn That These Rule-of-Law Interventions Don’t Work?
When Hungary first starting doing down the path to autocracy after 2010, EU officials were quick to recall the “failed” case of Austria in 1999. Didn’t the EU learn from its experience? Continue reading >>
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08 March 2018
Why Poland and not Hungary?
According to Frans Timmermans, speaking on 17 September 2017, “the situation in Hungary is not comparable to the situation in Poland” implying that Poland is far worse off than Hungary in the rule of law department. But is that true? Continue reading >>07 March 2018
Was the Commission Right to Activate pre-Article 7 and Article 7(1) Procedures Against Poland?
Despite the Commission’s best and repeated efforts, the rule of law situation in Poland has indeed been going from bad to worse under the stewardship of Poland’s de facto leader and its “Law and Justice” governing party. Continue reading >>06 March 2018
Is Article 7 Really the EU’s “Nuclear Option”?
Why have some EU officials called Article 7 the EU’s “nuclear option” – and is Article 7 really that powerful? Continue reading >>05 March 2018