Developments in EU Governance – Democracy, The Rule Of Law and Fundamental Rights as Contentious Issues

The European Union (EU) has long had to contend with the challenge of delivering democratic accountability beyond the nation state. Increasingly, however, EU governance mechanisms must confront challenges to democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights at both the EU and member state level. From tensions over the rule of law in Hungary and Poland, to the EU’s stalled accession to the European Convention on Human Rights and the perceived de-legalisation of EMU as a result of euro crisis reform, the EU’s commitment to – and governance of – shared values requires deeper scholarly investigation. This section focuses on recent developments in EU governance concerning the importance of, and inter-relationship between, democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights. Do disagreements over the rule of law and fundamental rights undermine the respect for EU law more generally and challenge the roles of the Commission and the Court of Justice in enforcing them? Can differentiated integration involve differentiation regarding the application of democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights? How has the euro crisis impacted on the EU’s shared values? What are the limits of respect for qualified majority decisions of the Council? Can member states ever police each other in Council and the European Council as regards violations of the EU’s core principles? Are specific EU institutional actors prone to taking a particular stance on these normative issues and decide in favour or against specific institutional options. Can different mechanisms of parliamentary control at both the EU and national levels jointly deliver democratic control? This section invites contributions on recent developments in EU governance which consider the role of institutional actors in the light of the above and similar questions. Contributions may compare the roles of different actors such as the European Council, the Council, the Commission and the European Parliament or consider them in their own right and/or in relation to particular policy fields.