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Week 8: Rule of Law in the EU

Contents

  • Module feedback
  • What is “rule of law”?
  • Wider aspects of good governance
  • EU enlargement
  • Rule of law deficits in member states
  • Action against Hungary and Poland
  • Course structure
  • Exam prep
  • Conclusion

Module feedback

  • 1) We can do more quizzes and debates in the seminars
  • 2) We can explain the relationship between weekly learning more clearly
  • 3) We can run a dedicated revision session (perhaps as a quiz) at the end of term as exam prep

What is the “rule of law”?

  • Aspects of the “rule of law” (cf. European Commission 2014):
    • Principle of legality, including transparent and democratic process for enacting laws
    • Legal certainty, so laws can’t be changed retrospectively
    • Prohibition of arbitrariness, so there are checks on government power
    • Independent and effective judicial review, including respect for human rights
    • Right to fair trial and separation of powers
    • Equality before the law
  • Source referenced: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2020/09/30/the-rule- of-law-what-is-it-and-why-is-it-important

Wider aspects of good governance

  • Are there any other things that the European Union might want to demand of its member states?

Action against

  • Corruption, money-laundering, economic crime
  • Drug abuse and illicit trafficking
  • Cybercrime
  • Data protection
  • Freedom of expression, including a free press
  • Transparency in public institutions
  • Fairness in public procurement
  • Wider human rights issues, e.g. respect for minorities

EU enlargement

  • “Copenhagen criteria” for membership:
    • Stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy
    • The rule of law
    • Human rights
    • Protection of minorities
    • Amongst other criteria (e.g. economic conditions of membership)

How enlargement works (process overview)

  • To join, countries have to accept these rules
  • Period of: “Association agreement”
  • Council asks Commission for opinion on readiness to begin negotiations
  • Negotiations on “chapters” of law, with regular progress reports
  • Treaty of Accession, signed by each EU Member State, candidate country and EU institutions
  • Significant EU leverage, though in practice other factors may influence decisions and timescale

Rule of law deficits in member states

  • Commission produces an annual Rule of Law report with a chapter on each Member State, featuring input from each Member State: https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/default/files/41194542commrecomm_en.pdf
  • Important: it’s not just the traditional “bad boys” that have issues

Article 7 (Deficits in member states, mechanism to protect EU values)

  • Article 7 of Treaty on European Union allows certain membership rights to be removed from a member state (but not expulsion)
  • When a member state is considered to have breached EU’s founding values (e.g. respect for rule of law or minority rights):
    • Commission, Parliament or \frac{1}{3} of Member states identify “Clear Risk of Serious Breach”, and \frac{2}{3} of Parliament agrees
    • Then \frac{4}{5} of Council
  • If continues, Commission or \frac{1}{3} of countries can send back to Council, requires unanimity to move to further action
  • Third stage – decision by qualified majority to suspend voting rights
  • Unanimity an obvious problem here!

Action against Hungary and Poland

  • Commission launch proceedings against Poland in 2017, and European Parliament against Hungary in 2018
  • Proceedings predictably stalled but … 2020: agreement to add rule of law conditionality to disbursement of EU funds, action taken against Poland and Hungary
    • Poland: Judicial reforms undermining independence of judges, and refusal to accept primacy of EU law
    • Hungary: issues with public contracts, corrupt spending of EU funds, and conflict of interests
  • 2022: ECJ rejects challenge from Poland and Hungary
  • Also: ECJ imposed fines on Poland over judicial reforms

Course structure

  • Next week in the lecture: Vladimir Bilcik, former MEP, will talk with us
  • Will then do shorter interactive lecture in the seminars on “Brexit”

Exam prep

  • A word on exam prep … Important you are on top of core material for section A of the exam
  • Worth focusing on a few topics for section B
  • Consider using quizzes and questions from textbooks to practice
  • Chat GPT can be a useful revision tool too (but obviously be cautious – it can make mistakes)

Conclusion

  • Financial penalties are more likely to be imposed than withdrawal of voting rights
  • Many open questions: How much should the EU get involved in issues of domestic politics? Is the “rule of law” framework applied consistently and fairly? Does imposing sanctions run the risk of entrenching harm to member states?