The Crisis of Democracy and Rule of Law in the EU: Reflections on Sovereignty Issues

Abstract

In the post-Maastricht era, Member states of the European Union (EU) have proved increasingly reluctant to transfer further competences to the supranational level and are willing to safeguard their sovereignty (Bickerton, Hodson and Puetter 2015). Sovereignty issues today have been exacerbated and politicized: they take the form of conflicts of sovereignty which are more divisive than ever thus involving crucial – and unresolved – dilemmas for decision-makers. These conflicts of sovereignty have been particularly visible on democratic norms, territorial boundaries and the rule of law. Indeed, over the last 10 years, some countries from Eastern and Central Europe have not only constantly contested the legitimacy of the Commission to promote reforms in areas supposed to be at the core of state sovereignty such as judicial reforms (Coman 2017) but also, lately, they have challenged the duty of the EU to safeguard the common values on which the EU is founded. Similarly, Brexit and the claims for independence in Catalonia and Scotland have raised key issues for the way sovereignty is framed and understood in the EU. These debates have given rise to fundamental normative and legal questions concerning the nature of the EU’s political regime and its role in protecting common values and preventing cases when member states put said values under considerable strain. This is more than an empirical puzzle for scholars. It is an existential threat and political challenge to EU integration. Therefore, this panel will look at the relation between the recent crisis of democracy and the rule of law and the sovereignty in the EU.

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