Abstract
The European Union is founded on a set of common principles of democracy, the rule of law,
and fundamental rights, as enshrined in Article 2 of the Treaty on the European Union.
Whereas future Member States are vetted for their compliance with these values before they
accede to the Union, no similar method exists to supervise respect of these foundational principles
after accession. This gap needs to be filled, since history proved that EU Member State
governments’ adherence to foundational EU values cannot be taken for granted. Against
this background this article assesses the need and possibilities for the establishment of an EU
Scoreboard on EU values; viable strategies and procedures to regularly monitor all Member
States’ compliance with the rule of law on an equal and objective basis; and the nature of
effective and dissuasive sanction mechanisms foreseen for rule of law violators.
Go to article