Deepening and broadening the EU's Rule of Law agenda

The major challenge the EU faces, is the availability of effective instruments to ensure the rule of law and stimulate improvement once a country is a member state. Most of the current discussion is focused on the (limited) role of the European Court of Justice, the European Commission’s Rule of Law Framework and Article 7.

This policy brief maintains that instilling the rule of law in a sustainable manner can be found in a double approach: not merely through top-down, central control EU mechanisms, but also via active investment in national capacities that are strongly embedded in (subsidiarity-based) European networks.