Defending checks and balances in EU member states: taking stock of Europe’s actions

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.

Part I: Understanding the Development in EU Member States: Not on Bread Alone Doth Man Liveth (Deut. 8:3; Mat 4:4) – Some Iconoclastic Views on Populism, Democracy, the Rule of Law and the Polish Circumstance by Joseph HH Weiler -- Constitutional Crisis in Poland 2015–2016 in the Light of the Rule of Law Principle by Marcin Wiącek -- Hungary’s Latest Experiences with Article 2 TEU: The Need for ‘Informed’ EU Sanctions by Beáta Bakó -- Part II: European Action: Towards a Tyranny of Values? Principles on Defending Checks and Balances in EU Member States by Armin von Bogdandy -- The Rule of Law as a Value in the Sense of Article 2 TEU: What Does it Mean and Imply? by Werner Schroeder -- Article 7: A Commentary on a Much Talked-About ‘Dead’ Provision by Dimitry Kochenov -- The Responsibility of Courts in Maintaining the Rule of Law: Two tales of consequential judicial self- restraint by Pál Sonnevend -- Suspending Horizontal Solange: A Decentralized Instrument for Protecting Mutual Trust and the European Rule of Law by Iris Canor -- Ascertaining the ‘Guarantee of Guarantees’. Recent Developments Regarding the Infringement Procedure in the EU’s Rule of Law Crisis by Matthias Schmidt and Piotr Bogdanowicz -- Defending Union Values in Judicial Proceedings. On How to Turn Article 2 TEU Into a Judicially Applicable Provision by Luke Dimitrios Spieker -- Suspension of EU Funds Paid to Member States Breaching the Rule of Law – Is the Commission’s Proposal Legal? by Justyna Łacny -- The Rule of Law Framework in the European Union: Its Rationale, Origins, Role and International Ramifications by Artur Nowak-Far -- The Rule of Law and the Roll of the Dice. The Uncertain Future of Investor-State Arbitration in the EU by Wojciech Sadowski -- Sounding the Alarm: The Council of Europe as the Guardian of the Rule of Law in Contemporary Europe by Jörg Polakiewicz and Julia Katharina Kirchmayr -- Part III: Dissecting CJEU’s Jurisprudence: A Potential Constitutional Moment for the European Rule of Law – The Importance of Red Lines by Armin von Bogdandy, Piotr Bogdanowicz, Iris Canor, Giacomo Rugge, Matthias Schmidt and Maciej Taborowski -- The Assessment of Judicial Independence Following the CJEU Ruling in C-216/18 LM by Stanisław Biernat and Paweł Filipek -- The Rule of Law, Fair Trial and Human Dignity: the Protection of EU Values after LM by Catherine Dupré -- Drawing Red Lines With No (Significant) Bites – Why An Individual Test Is Not Appropriate in the LM Case by Agnieszka Frąckowiak-Adamska -- Intermezzo in the Rule of Law Play: The Court of Justice’s LM Case by Matteo Bonelli.