The Rule of Law Erosion in the EU: Are We Solidly Built to Hinder It? Between Ineffective Tools and New Approaches

Abstract

The European Union is a Community built on a set of common and foundational principles of Democracy, the Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights, as enshrined in Article 2 of the Treaty of the European Union. Whereas compliance of future Member States with these principles is strictly monitored before their accession to the Union, no effective mechanism exists to supervise adherence to them after it, giving room for potential systemic violations which may go as far as overthrowing the Rule of Law, as occurred in the recent and most remarkable cases of Hungary and Poland, and so the grounds of the European functioning. Against this background, this research paper deals with a comprehensive analysis of the Rule of Law backsliding phenomenon the EU has lately been witnessing and addresses its potentialities to hinder it, corroborating its weaknesses in this respect and beseeching the endowment of new tools which also includes a rethink of them.