nam 22 uu 4500 10.17176/20221013-230349-0 DE-Verfassungsblog cr||||| 221013s2022||||xx#|||||o|||| ||| 0|eng|| 10.17176/20221013-230349-0 doi eng 342 23 Di Federico, Giacomo Author aut Waiting for Godot - Ursula von der Leyen’s statements on the Italian elections and the Union’s toolbox against rule of law backsliding in Member States Di Federico, Giacomo Verfassungsblog 2022-10-13 Text txt rdacontent Computermedien c rdamedia Online-Ressource cr rdacarrier The words of the President of the European Commission during her keynote speech at Princeton University on 22 September have caused quite a stir. Responding to a question about the (then) upcoming elections and the prospect of a right-wing government comprising members related to Putin, Ursula von der Leyen (VDL) surprised everyone with a reference to the well-known situations in Hungary and Poland. Now that the formation of a new Italian government is well underway, this contribution reconsiders the fears fueled by VDL’s statements in light of the past and current context to draw some more general conclusions on the institution’s duty to respect and promote the EU’s founding values. CC BY-SA 4.0 Italy Populism Rechtspopulismus Right-wing populism Rule of Law Max Steinbeis Verfassungsblog gGmbH Verfassungsblog 2366-7044 https://verfassungsblog.de/waiting-for-godot/ raw object