Rule of Law in Limbo

The author argues that while the EU has developed better legal and institutional tools to protect the rule of law, the political commitment of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is questionable. The text highlights a tension between the 'fact-based' discourse of judicial independence and a 'détente' policy that risks validating illiberal narratives in Eastern Europe.

• Since 2010, the rule of law has weakened across the EU, with the most severe 'autocratisation' occurring in Hungary and Poland, where checks and balances, media pluralism, and judicial independence have been undermined.
• The author contends that the failure to reverse authoritarian trends in Hungary and Poland since 2010 and 2015 is primarily due to a lack of political will within European institutions rather than a lack of legal or institutional tools.
• The von der Leyen Commission's portfolio distribution is criticized as symbolically and practically damaging, specifically the appointment of a Hungarian candidate to the enlargement and neighbourhood portfolio, a role meant to promote the very values the Hungarian government is accused of hollowing out.
• There is a concern that Ursula von der Leyen is adopting the discursive frames of illiberal governments by suggesting that rule of law conflicts are part of an East-West divide where Eastern states are 'targeted', rather than maintaining a fact-based approach rooted in infringement procedures.
• Recent institutional developments in 2019 provided potential breakthroughs, including groundbreaking CJEU judgements on judicial independence and a new Rule of Law Communication introducing an annual monitoring exercise for all member states.
• The European Parliament is identified as a critical counterweight to a potentially weak Commission, with the capacity to exercise political control over compliance with European values and force the implementation of rule of law conditionality in the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF).

APA

Hegedüs, D. (2019). Rule of Law in Limbo. Green European Journal. https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/rule-of-law-in-limbo/

Chicago

Hegedüs, Daniel. Rule of Law in Limbo. Green European Journal, 2019. https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/rule-of-law-in-limbo/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Hegedüs |first1=Daniel |title=Rule of Law in Limbo |publisher=Green European Journal |date=10 October 2019 |url=https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/rule-of-law-in-limbo/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{hegeds2019rule, author = {Hegedüs, Daniel}, title = {{Rule of Law in Limbo}}, institution = {Green European Journal}, year = {2019}, month = oct, url = {https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/rule-of-law-in-limbo/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }