About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

11 Iustinianus Primus L. Rev. 1 (2020)

handle is hein.journals/iusplr11 and id is 1 raw text is: Ilina Cenevska* THE RULE OF LAW AS A PIVOTAL CONCEPT OF THE EU'S POLITICO-LEGAL ORDER Abstract ........................ ................. ............1 V. Providing the necessary guidance: the 2019 I. Introduction............................................1 Commission communication 'further strengthening II. The substance and scope of the rule of law as an the rule of law within the union state of play and EU concept ........................................................2 possible next steps ................. ... ...... ..9 III. The rule of law: a value or a principle?.........6 VI. How well-equipped is the EU in protecting the IV. The essentials of the article 7 TEU Procedure.7 rule of law: a developing discussion ...............11 Abstract In recent years, the EU Member States like Poland, Hungary, Romania and Malta have experienced various kinds of rule of law backsliding processes which have threatened to gradually erode these countries' democratic institutions established under the rule of law. Moreover, the rise of populist movements and the growing nationalist tendencies in some of these countries have added to an ever-growing rift in the relationship between Brussels and the national governments. The persistence of rule of law eroding trends has become a compelling post-accession reality for these Member States (which joined the EU in 2004 and 2007), arguably undermining and being in open breach of the EU's fundamental values - most pressingly and most acutely, the rule of law. While this paper does not aim to pinpoint the causes and factors that have led to the foregoing regressive trends (which are indeed manifold), its goal is rather to look in a more conceptual manner at the rule of law as an overarching principle underpinning EU's legal and political order. The paper will equally examine the mechanisms the European Union has at its disposal in confronting the value erosion trends and inspect to what degree these mechanisms are effective in tackling the rule of law backsliding processes. Keywords: Rule of Law, EU values, EU membership, Article 7 TEU I. INTRODUCTION It is uniformly held that that the EU's fundamental values (most notably - democracy, rule of law, and respect for human rights) are the EU's alpha-and-omega. They represent the constitutional foundations of the EU as a value-based polity. What we are faced with today is an unprecedented record of failure of certain EU Member States to respect the Union's core values, a state of affairs that threatens to produce irreversible damage upon the Union's value-based legal and political order. The developing trend of value-erosion undoubtedly compromises the * Ilina Cenevska, PhD, Associate Professor, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, Iustinianus Primus Law Faculty, e-mail: i.cenevska@pf.ukim.edu.mk 1

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most