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Walking a democratic tightrope : EU militant democracy and the infringement action against Lex Tusk
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2366-7044
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Verfassungsblatt, 2023, No. 6, pp. 983-985
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FEISEL, Franca Maria, Walking a democratic tightrope : EU militant democracy and the infringement action against Lex Tusk, Verfassungsblatt, 2023, No. 6, pp. 983-985 - https://hdl.handle.net/1814/77250
Abstract
That was fast. On 8 June, only 11 days after the Polish so-called ‘Lex Tusk’ was signed into force, the Commission launched an infringement procedure against Poland. For the first time, the Commission is relying on the principle of democracy in Art. 10 TEU as an autonomous plea, dropping another bombshell shortly after the first direct invocation of Art. 2 TEU in infringement proceedings against Hungary earlier this year. This contribution discusses both the perks and potential perils of the direct enforcement of the principle of democracy in Art. 10 TEU. On the one hand, a shift from what is arguably better called ‘militant rule of law’ towards more literally EU militant democracy is a positive development, as it better captures the nature and range of the principles which are de facto under threat in several EU Member States, including Poland. On the other hand, the present infringement action illustrates the principled challenge of militant democracy to preserve the possibility of democratic regime change, all whilst not lapsing into a form of institutional conservatism. This challenge is particularly pertinent for the EU’s multi-level and pluralist democratic polity.
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First published online on Verfassungblog: 15 June 2023