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FRIHUMSAM-Fri prosj.st. hum og sam

Enforcing the Rule of Law: What can the European Union do to prevent rule of law deterioration from within?

Alternative title: Forsvar av rettsstaten: hva kan EU gjøre for å hindre rettsstatlig sammenbrudd i egne medlemsland?

Awarded: NOK 12.5 mill.

ENROL studies what the European Union (and its Member States) may legally and politically do effectively and legitimately to contain, reverse and prevent regression in rule of law and democratic standards in its midst. Respect for the rule of law and democratic standards have significantly deteriorated in several EU Member States, especially in Poland and Hungary. Such a regression damages the functioning of the European Union as a legal system, its legitimacy and stability as a political order, and its trustworthiness as an international partner. EU institutions have been struggling to address this unprecedented predicament in a decisive fashion, while EU partners have signaled concerns. ENROL will map out the ongoing development of the EU's rule of law enforcement toolkit and chart how EU institutions have used it so far. We will investigate why EU institutions have chosen to employ some tools, refrained from engaging in others, while continuing to develop new ones. ENROL will indeed identify existing bottlenecks which stand in the way of more forceful EU action, in the form of political incentives, institutional mechanisms as well legal and normative concerns about the legitimacy and effectiveness of different available tools. ENROL will also study the implications of EU action—and inaction—for domestic political resistance against backsliding, with a particular focus on Poland, one of the EU's largest Member States where the political struggle over rule of law is ongoing. Based on those findings, ENROL will envisage solutions to established bottlenecks and set out the legal and normative conditions for an effective and legitimate EU response to rule of law and democratic backsliding.

What can the European Union do to prevent the deterioration of the rule of law among its own members? In Hungary, the respect for democracy and rule of law has declined to such an extent that the country is now routinely classified as a “competitive authoritarian regime”, while Poland has embarked on a similar trajectory of political capture of the media and judiciary. ENROL brings together a team of lawyers, philosophers and political scientists to address the puzzle of why the EU has failed to devise a more forceful response to violations of its most fundamental membership principles. What are the legal, political and normative bottlenecks that stand in the way for stronger EU action? Through four tightly integrated work packages, ENROL will engage in an interdisciplinary assessment of the conditions for effective and legitimate EU action in response to rule of law backsliding and propose solutions to the existing bottlenecks. The first work package will map out the ongoing development of the EU's rule of law enforcement toolbox and chart how it has been used. The second work package investigates why the EU has chosen to employ some tools, refrained from engaging in others, and continued to develop new ones. We will identify existing bottlenecks in the form of political incentives, institutional mechanisms and legal and normative concerns about the legitimacy and effectiveness of different tools. The third and fourth work packages take these concerns to the test through empirical, legal and normative analysis. ENROL will study the implications of EU action—and inaction—for domestic political resistance against backsliding in Poland, one of the EU's largest MS where the political struggle over rule of law is ongoing. Finally, we will evaluate the key legal and normative arguments for (in)action in public discourse and academic literature, to assess their validity and to build a normative understanding of the legitimacy of EU enforcement actions.

Funding scheme:

FRIHUMSAM-Fri prosj.st. hum og sam