rule of law

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.

I have notified the relevant authorities at the United Nations about what is taking place in Bulgaria. Activities of this type directed against human rights defenders have no place in a rule of law state, let alone an EU state.

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.