O TJUE enquanto guardião do Estado de Direito - Reine a Justiça e pereçam os que a ameaçam

Abstract

The European Union (EU) is based on an axiological basis, which is shared by the Member States. In this context, Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) provides for the values ​​that guide all its activity, of which we highlight democracy and the rule of law. These values ​​are part of the traditions common to the Member States, and the EU is obliged to promote and defend them. Thus, the exercise of public powers must be linked to pre-defined rules, which reconcile the performance of the tasks to which they are assigned with unconditional respect for the fundamental rights of individuals. This commitment, in a Europe that aims to promote and defend democracy and the rule of law and to guarantee respect for fundamental rights in all aspects of the EU's activities, reveals its deep commitment to prevent the violation of those values, about which the European project is based. In this context, the European Union has several instruments (not only of a contentious nature) that demonstrate the co-responsibility of all Member States for those violations. One of the most controversial instruments was the establishment of a control mechanism, of a political nature, provided for in art. 7 of the TEU, which allows observing and sanctioning the behavior of States that violate or are at risk of violating those values. Knowing that recent developments in some member states, notably in Hungary and Poland, have made it possible to test the effectiveness of such mechanisms, our work intends to present, in a forcibly brief way, some responses from the European Union to that problem that is beginning to show signs of be spreading and deepening.