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The Gradual Establishment of an EU Rule of Law Policy in Times of Dissensus

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The Politics of the Rule of Law in the EU Polity

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics ((PSEUP))

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Abstract

This book examines the gradual establishment of a rule of law policy at the EU level. This chapter explains what is examined in the book, why and how. To do so, it goes back to the beginning of the 2010s to the moment when some EU member states’ governments have limited the independence of their judiciaries. Institutional actors at the European level have been slow to react. A series of tools have been designed incrementally over the past ten years, yet not without difficulty, and with little result in practice. How does the EU respond when the common values on which it is based are under strain? I argue that what is at stake here is more than a clash between national and supranational actors about the relationship between law and politics in a polity beyond the state. The emerging rule of law policy is shaped by a clash between liberal and anti-liberal ideas, marking a shift from an overemphasised rule of law consensus (idealised in the 1990s) to increased dissensus and contestation (since the 2010s).

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  1. Department of Political Science, Universite libre de Bruxelles, Bruxelles, Belgium

    Ramona Coman

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Coman, R. (2022). The Gradual Establishment of an EU Rule of Law Policy in Times of Dissensus. In: The Politics of the Rule of Law in the EU Polity. Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97367-4_1

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