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

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 Author aut Text xx# 2022 Verfassungsblog 2022-10-13 eng 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 Di Federico, Giacomo Italy Populism Rechtspopulismus Right-wing populism Rule of Law 342 https://verfassungsblog.de/waiting-for-godot/ Verfassungsblog 2366-7044 Max Steinbeis Verfassungsblog gGmbH 10.17176/20221013-230349-0 221013 10.17176/20221013-230349-0 Converted from MARCXML to MODS version 3.7 using MARC21slim2MODS3-7.xsl (Revision 1.140 20200717)