rule of law

If experiences of a decade of dialogue on the rule of law are any indication, Orbán is unlikely to be halted by diplomatic reminders about good practice during a pandemic.

If the EU wants to survive as a meaningful organisation delivering for all of its citizens, it will have to step up its response to the ongoing rule of law crisis.

The decision to uphold the suspension of Hungarian PM Viktor Orban's Fidesz Party from the EPP political group was made behind closed doors yesterday.

Legitimate debate is completely different from destructive propaganda, the gratuitous bashing of the Spanish judiciary or the propagation of conspiracy theories. Let’s discuss everything, including legal or constitutional changes. But in the meantime, we democrats must abide by the law as it is.

Protecting Europe from its autocratic side will be one of the new Commission’s main challenges. During the last decade, we’ve seen multiple examples of EU leaders undermining the checks and balances to preserve human rights and the rule of law against executive overreach.

The new proposed bill tries to put a definitive end to the activities of an abundant number of Polish judges to uphold the rule of law. The attack against judicial independence, then, takes a further step forward.

The rule of law, as opposed to what the minister Judit Varga writes, is not one of the current “buzzwords” but a constitutional foundation for our civilization, the operation of the state and our daily life.

Normally, we do not respond to statements from ministers or other representatives of the Orbán regime. Exceptionally, in this instance, we thought it important to counter the misinformation Minister Judit Varga is deliberately spreading.

Over the past nine years, public affairs have gradually become the private affairs of people with power, and every relevant law, regulation and practice echoes this shift in perspective. Government officials and politicians treat journalists asking them questions as if we were invading their privacy

The Hungarian government appears not to accept that the rule of law can be a criterion to judge member states. Interestingly, until very recently, they always claimed that Hungary fully adhered to those principles, and that the rule of law worked perfectly in the country.

“I feel like an entire machinery is against me,” Judge Monika Frąckowiak told me when I met her last month in the town of Poznań. “I will continue doing what I’m doing but I fear others might be silenced.”

For fear of sounding politically incorrect, many are reluctant to ask even the most basic questions about rule of law and its protection in the EU. So to help out, here are a few facts about the rule of law that you always wanted to know but never dared ask.

The racism on display at the Bulgaria v England match is only part of a wider picture of intimidation and hooliganism in the country - and the rot goes straight to the upper echelons of power.

Poland's justice minister, Zbigniew Ziobro, says it was an attempt to interfere in the country's parliamentary elections this weekend.

What is certainly questionable is whether there has really been a paradigm shift in countries that wish to take part in the European project; a change which has meant going from being old nation states to becoming new member states.

In the images of millions upon millions of Hong Kongers marching peacefully for a better future, I see the Hong Kong I fell in love with.