Production: By Europod, in co-production with Sphera Network.
EUobserver is proud to have an editorial partnership with Europod to co-publish the podcast series “Briefed” hosted by Léa Marchal. The podcast is available on all major platforms.
You can find the transcript here if you prefer reading:
Respect for the rule of law in the EU is seriously eroding.
This is what a report compiling data from 40 organisations across the continent has found.
Member states are simply not implementing the recommendations made each year by the European Commission.
Is the EU reaching its limits in maintaining the rule of law?
Hi, I’m Léa Marchal, and I make sure you are briefed on the most important things happening across Europe.
The rule of law prohibits arbitrary power and protects individual rights.
It is a fundamental principle in the EU. Yet, it is increasingly being overlooked across the continent.
That’s what a report published yesterday by the Civil Liberties Union for Europe shows. It compiles contributions from around 40 organisations that monitored the implementation of rule of law recommendations in EU Member States.
The most striking finding is that the recommendations made each year by the European Commission in its Rule of Law report are largely not followed through.
To such an extent that the organisation Liberties speaks of a concerted dismantling and a cumulative decline of the rule of law in the EU.
Who are the bad guys?
Well, It comes as no surprise that countries like Hungary and Slovakia rank among the worst performers. In the category of “rule of law dismantlers”, they are joined by Bulgaria, Croatia and Italy.
But more surprisingly, some large countries whose democratic systems are considered deeply rooted — such as Germany, Denmark or France — are classified as “sliding” towards more rule of law violations.
What is often highlighted is the lack of media plurality, poor respect for the right to protest, and shortcomings in the fight against corruption.
Does this mean that the European Commission is unable to enforce the rule of law?
The EU has several tools at its disposal to ensure that member states comply with its principles and values. One of them is the possibility to deprive a member state of its voting rights in the Council of the EU if it breaches the rule of law.
But this is a stalled process. This so-called “Article 7 procedure” is rarely triggered, because it is highly political.
And the final decision to remove a country’s voting rights requires the unanimous consent of the 26 other Member States.
This is why the procedure opened against Hungary has been stuck for years. Slovakia — and potentially other countries — would likely always side with Budapest.
In this context, the EU has developed new tools in recent years.
Since 2020, the Commission has had a so-called conditionality mechanism at its disposal to withhold EU funds in cases of rule of law violations.
However, these breaches must affect the financial management of the EU budget or the Union’s financial interests. Rule of law violations affecting media pluralism, for example, would be harder to address.
Still, this tool has already been used against — once again — Hungary. And to this day, around 6 billion euros allocated to Budapest remain frozen under this mechanism.
No other country has been targeted by the conditionality mechanism. Because here too, the decision is highly political.
The EU can also withhold other funds if it considers that a country does not respect the rule of law, but only the most serious cases are addressed.
Another tool available to the EU is infringement procedures. These are actions the Commission can take when a member state fails to implement EU legislation. They are not always directly linked to rule of law issues, but they can be.
Infringement procedures can ultimately lead to a ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union.
To date, the EU has several hundred cases open against its 27 member states.
And as shown by the media outlet Investigate Europe in 2024, infringement procedures rarely lead to full compliance and often become long-running, unresolved cases.
At present, the European Commission — as guardian of the treaties — can mainly rely on the conditionality mechanism to pressure member states. But as we’ve seen, it is not that easy.
What remains for the EU is therefore political pressure — or the hope that elections may lead to changes in government and reforms.
The authors of the report warn that without a more decisive approach from EU institutions, the trend of deterioration will continue.
