The EU needs a better and fairer scrutiny procedure over Rule of Law compliance

Abstract

Recent events in some Member States show that the EU’s values (article 2, TEU), in particular the Rule of Law, are not exempt from being challenged. Constitutional changes in Hungary, executive non-compliance with constitutional court rulings in Romania, and expulsion of Bulgarian and Hungarian Roma citizens in France are some of the episodes that illustrate these challenges. Article 7 provides a mechanism for securing Member States´ compliance with the values contained in article 2. However, its potential devastating effects makes it unsuitable for an early reaction to potential threats. Hence, the EU needs to equip itself with a better procedure for scrutinising Member States’ compliance with the Rule of Law for which the EU Commission and the European Council have proposed alternative instruments. Rather than adding a new proposal, a number of principles outlined in the recommendations should inspire this new mechanism.