Reinforcing Rule Of Law Oversight In The European Union

This book provides an analysis of key approaches to rule of law oversight in the EU and identifies deeper theoretical problems.

This book provides the definitive reference point on all the issues pertaining to dealing with the 'crisis of the rule of law' in the European Union. Both Member State and EU levels are considered. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of the concrete legal bases and instruments that the EU may avail itself of for enforcing rule of law, and the volume clearly demonstrates that a number of legally sound ways of rule of law oversight are available. Contributors are leading scholars who assess the potential role to be played by the various bodies in the context of dealing with the EU's rule of law imperfections.

This paper provides a critical overview of options available to the EU to deal with the Rule of Law crisis in some of the Member States. The options it engages with were offered and discussed by a handful of the leading experts in the field and drawing on the critical EUI discussion, the first part of the paper tackles the following questions: 1. Why should the EU reinforce the oversight of Member States' Rule of Law performance? 2. Are there sufficient legal bases for such oversight - should a reform of the Treaties be required? 3. What kind of procedure could be designed to meet the need of such oversight? 4. Which body should be entrusted with the oversight function? The second part provides a word of caution warning of the possible problems related to the EU's involvement with the constitutional core of the Member States.

This book provides an analysis of key approaches to rule of law oversight in the EU and identifies deeper theoretical problems.

The European Union and the rule of law? state of affairs and ways of strengthening / Werner Schroeder -- Principle of legality and the hierarchy of norms / Franz Merli -- Access to justice and judicial independence : is there a role for the EU? / Attila Badó and János Bóka -- Transparency as part of a European rule of law / Inger Sterdahl -- Legal certainty / Anna Gamper -- The principle of proportionality / Peter M Huber -- The council of Europe and the rule of law / Jorg Polakiewicz and Jenny Sandwig -- The rule of law in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights / Elisabeth Steiner -- The rule of law in the recent jurisprudence of the ECJ / Thomas von Danwitz -- Reinforcing rule of law oversight in the European Union : key options / Carlos Closa and Dimitry Kochenov -- The EU rule of law framework / Emanuel Crabit and Nicolaas Bel -- Global activities and current initiatives in the Union to strengthen the rule of law? a state of play / Andreas Kumin -- Managing the rule of law in a heterogeneous context : a fundamental rights perspective on ways forward / Gabriel Toggenburg and Jonas Grimheden -- The rule of law in European policy : a parliamentarian's view / Eva Lichtenberger -- The rule of law and constitutionalisation of the European Union / Monica Claes and Mateo Bonelli

This open access book deals with Article 7 TEU measures, court proceedings, financial sanctions and the EU Rule of Law Framework to protect EU values with a particular focus on checks and balances in EU Member States. It analyses substantive standards, powers, procedures as well as the consequences and implications of the various instruments. It combines the analysis of the European level, be it the EU or the Council of Europe, with that of the national level, in particular in Hungary and Poland. The LM judgment of the European Court of Justice is made subject to detailed scrutiny.

A state-of-the-art analysis of the contentious areas of EU law that have been put in the spotlight by populism.

Despite western Europe's traditional disdain for the United States' "adversarial legalism," the European Union is shifting toward a very similar approach to the law, according to Daniel Kelemen. Coining the term "eurolegalism" to describe the hybrid that is now developing in Europe, he shows how the political and organizational realities of the EU make this shift inevitable. The model of regulatory law that had long predominated in western Europe was more informal and cooperative than its American counterpart. It relied less on lawyers, courts, and private enforcement, and more on opaque networks of bureaucrats and other interests that developed and implemented regulatory policies in concert. European regulators chose flexible, informal means of achieving their objectives, and counted on the courts to challenge their decisions only rarely. Regulation through litigation-central to the U.S. model-was largely absent in Europe. But that changed with the advent of the European Union. Kelemen argues that the EU's fragmented institutional structure and the priority it has put on market integration have generated political incentives and functional pressures that have moved EU policymakers to enact detailed, transparent, judicially enforceable rules-often framed as "rights"-and back them with public enforcement litigation as well as enhanced opportunities for private litigation by individuals, interest groups, and firms.