Abstract: The rule of law is one amongst a number of principles that are together regarded as under-girding the EU polity and common to the EU Member States. This paper first asserts that the rule of law can be accurately described as a “common principle.” A series of “shared traits” are...

This article offers a comprehensive examination of the rationale underlying the rule of law framework adopted by the Commission in March 2014 before outlining its main features. It is argued that while the Commission's ‘light-touch' framework falls short of what is required to effectively...

With Orbán's autocratic constitutional revolution in mind, one may distinguish between three main legal steps when it comes to establishing and consolidating a partly free, pseudo democracy in a country where a democratic regime based on the rule of law was previously said to be consolidated:...

This report answers general questions arising from the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (TECE); identifies provisions of the TECE which gave rise to legal or constitutional concerns in Ireland; and reflects on the attitude of Irish political actors regarding the negotiation and...

Without radically upsetting the institutional and political balance of the European Union, the Commission's White Paper on Governance (2001) proposes a new basis for the EU's institutional legitimacy. However, this conceptual re-foundation gives rise to new and fundamental questions. To speak of...

Article 21 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) affirms that the EU's external action should be guided by the principle of ‘the universality and indivisibility of human rights'. However, economic, social and cultural rights (ESC rights) have received less attention than their civil and...

The EU has been facing the Rule of Law crisis for almost a decade now. Undermining the separation of powers directly affects the Rule of Law in a given state, but at the same time it affects the EU integration as well, since the Rule of Law is one of its fundamental values. The paper builds on...

Notwithstanding the different terms used to convey the concept of ‘rule of law’ in different languages, the rule of law has long been presented as one of the core elements of Europe’s constitutional heritage. The EU Treaties also refer to the rule of law as one of the values common to the...

The EU, as a political project, has suffered immense damage from the accusation of being a neo-liberal entity pursuing neo-liberal policies. The neo-liberal caricature is highly unfortunate as not only the legal provisions upon which the EU is founded do not embody any neo-liberal bias, there is...