Abstract
As the European Union (EU) and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) celebrate 40 years of bilateral relations, the partnership continues to develop inter alia with the launch of a new Legal Affairs Dialogue, announced during the 17th EU-China summit (June 2015). As Rule of Law approaches greatly differ between the PRC and the EU and contain unbridgeable conceptual gaps, the new Legal Affairs Dialogue might further contribute to changes in the EU’s strategy of external Rule of Law, faced with the PRC’s own narrative and approach to the Rule of Law. On the other hand, the new dialogue might offer room for agreement and convergence on various global, bilateral and domestic levels. Recent domestic adjustments in the PRC and a manifest interest in reforming its legal system at a time when the EU is itself re-thinking its strategy of external rule of law offers a great potential for significant exchanges and an opportunity to bridge the Rule of Law gap between the PRC and the EU.
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Notes
Rechtsstaat puts a greater focus on the State with the law playing the role of the ultimate barrier against the absolute power of the ruler through the legislative and judicial power whilst Etat de droit puts a great emphasis on the judicial constitutional review process.
Pech, op cit (fn)
Pech, op cit (fn)
Ian Manners, op cit. (fn); (Marangoni and Raube 2014)
Les Assises de la Justice—21 November 2013—Conference held in Brussels under the auspices of the European Commission, Mr Gianni Buquicchio, President of the Venice Commission
To understand recent trends in Chinese courts’ reforms, see Liebman (2007)
See generally Mary E. Gallagher, ‘Mobilizing the Law in China: "Informed Disenchantment" and the Development of Legal Consciousness’, 40 Law and Society Review 783, 2006
Weifang, In the Name of Justice, op cit.
On the challenge of constitutionalism in China, see Balme and Dowdle (2009)
See generally Peerenboom (2006).
Secretary General Kofi Annan defined the rule of law as follows: “A principle of governance in which all persons, institutions and entities, public and private, including the State itself, are accountable to laws that are publicly promulgated, equally enforced and independently adjudicated, and which are consistent with international human rights norms and standards. It requires, as well, measures to ensure adherence to the principles of supremacy of law, equality before the law, accountability to the law, fairness in the application of the law, separation of powers, participation in decision-making, legal certainty, avoidance of arbitrariness and procedural and legal transparency.” Report of the Secretary General on the Rule of Law and Transitional Justice in Conflict and Post-Conflict Societies, 23 August 2004, S/2004/616, para. 6.
UN General Assembly resolution on “The rule of law at national and international levels” (A/RES/66/102)
Statement by José Manuel Barroso at the General Assembly High Level Meeting on the Rule of law on “The European Union and the Rule of law”, United Nations, 24 September 2012.
Brussels, 25 March 1998, COM (1998) 181 final at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:51998DC0181:EN:NOT
On the Chinese Anti-Monopoly Law, see Wu (2008)
Vice President Reding—Centre for European Policy Studies—4 September 2013
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Burnay, M., Hivonnet, J. & Raube, K. Bridging the EU-China’s gap on the Rule of Law?. Asia Eur J 14, 95–106 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10308-015-0437-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10308-015-0437-7