The paper deals with the ways in which the European Union can and should cope with recent deviations from the shared values of rule of law, democracy, and fundamental rights, especially in some of the new Member States in East-Central Europe, such as Hungary and Poland, but also elsewhere. The...

The weakness of the Copenhagen criteria and the lack of their application after accession caused a discrepancy between EU accession conditions and membership obligations, which might be one of the reasons for non-compliance after accession in some of the new Member States. The other reason is...