Illiberalism within: rule of law backsliding in the EU

How should the European Union cope with Member States that no longer respect the basic values of the Union? This article reviews the responses of the major European Union institutions to Poland and Hungary as their governments removed checks on their power, eliminated the independence of judiciaries and failed to honour their European commitments. As the article demonstrates, the responses of EU institutions have so far been ineffective in bringing these Member States back into line with European values. We examine the various proposals that have been made to do better, concluding that there is promise in some legal strategies that are available now, but have yet to be tried.

This article has been published in a revised form in Cambridge Yearbook of European Legal Studies https://doi.org/10.1017/cel.2017.9. This version is free to view and download for private research and study only. Not for re-distribution, re-sale or use in derivative works. © Centre for European Legal Studies, Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge