Full Description
Providing perspectives from different fields of study such as public policy and politics as well as legal analysis, this book highlights the rule of law as a fundamental value of the European Union, and examines how this is implemented throughout the Member States.
The Rule of Law Under Threat explores empirical evidence and quantitative methods for studying the dynamics of this imperative legal principle in interdisciplinary research. Internationally renowned experts consider the rule of law in the context of previous and future accessions to the EU in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, with particular focus on Hungary as one of the most recent and notorious cases of rule of law deficits in the EU. Finally, the book analyses the legal and political toolbox that the EU has at its disposal to counter the erosion of rule of law standards, including the Article 7 procedure, as well as strategies which recognise specific national discourses on and perceptions of the rule of law.
Students and scholars in constitutional and administrative law, European law, law and politics, and legal history will benefit from this book's multidisciplinary approach to the rule of law. It is also an essential resource for practitioners and decision-makers in EU nations as well as candidate countries.
Contents
Contents
Preface ix
1 The Rule of Law as a Fundamental Value of the Council
of Europe, the European Union and in the Constitutional
Traditions Common on the Member States 1
Juha Raitio
2 Measuring the Rule of Law: an Empirical Approach 13
Jacek Lewkowicz, Rafał Woźniak and Przemysław Litwiniuk
3 Post-accession experience regarding the rule of law 31
Herbert Küpper
4 The Fall of the Rule of Law and Democracy in Hungary
and the Complicity of the EU 51
Gábor Halmai
5 Consequences of the Rule of Law Debates for the
Accession Process of the States of the Western Balkan 73
Pavel Usvatov and Mahir Muharemovic
6 Are Judges Politicians in Robes? Comparative Aspects of
the Recruitment and Election of Judges 94
Piotr Mikuli, Natalie Fox and Radosław Puchta
7 Rule of Law (Crisis) and the Principle of Mutual Trust 125
Konstantina-Antigoni Poulou
8 Questioning the Primacy of Union Law by National
Constitutional Courts 146
Udo Bux
9 Political Strategies to Overcome the Rule of Law Crisis
Taking into Account National Political Discourses - The
Case of East Central European EU Member States 165
Astrid Lorenz, Jan Němec, Dietmar Müller, Madeleine
Hartmann and Dorottya V'g
10 The Rule of Law in the European Union and the Toolbox
to Defend it: Article 7 TEU, Rule of Law Report and
Dialogue, Budgetary Conditionality 186
Jonathan Bauerschmidt
11 Article 7 TEU as 'Nuclear Option'? An Analysis of its
Potential and its Shortcomings 208
Robert Böttner and Nic Schröder
12 Financial Sanctions as a Remedy to Enforce the Rule of
Law in Poland and Hungary 228
Malte Symann
