Should the EU protect democracy and the rule of law inside member states?

• Autores: Jan-Werner Müller
• Localización: European Law Journal, ISSN-e 1468-0386, Vol. 21, Nº. 2, 2015, págs. 141-160
• Idioma: inglés
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• Dialnet Métricas: 5 Citas
• Resumen

  • Against the background of recent developments in Hungary, the article discusses the question whether the European Union ought to play a role in protecting liberal democracy in Member States. First, it is argued that the EU has the authority to do so, both in a broad normative sense and in a narrower legal sense (though the latter is more likely to be disputed). The article then asks whether the EU has the capacity to establish a supranational militant democracy; here it is argued that at the moment both appropriate legal instruments and plausible political strategies are missing. To remedy this situation, the article proposes a new democracy watchdog, analogous to, but more powerful than, the Venice Commission. Finally, it is asked whether EU interventions would provoke a nationalist backlash. There is insufficient evidence to decide this question, but the danger of such a backlash probably tend to be overestimated.