On 18 May 2026 Professor Hanna Suchocka, former Prime Minister of Poland and a Honorary President of the Venice Commission, delivered a lecture at the CEU Democracy Institute.
She discussed the evolution of the rule of law in the work of the Venice Commission – transition to democracy in early 1990s, rule of law backsliding and the challenges surrounding the restoration of the rule of law.
Professor Suchocka discussed also the updated Rule of Law Checklist published by the Venice Commission in December 2025.
Hanna Suchocka is a Polish politician and lawyer who served as Prime Minister of Poland (1992-1993). She later served as a Minister of Justice (1997–2001) and as Poland’s Ambassador to the Holy See (2002-2013).She was also a member of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences in the Vatican. She is a professor at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań and Chair of the Constitutional Law Department and a former First Vice-President and Honorary President of the Venice Commission.
She was invited to the DI by the CEU Democracy Institute Rule of Law Clinic, which held an all-day conference on the “rule of law crisis.” The event was opened by Dimitry Kochenov, head of the Rule of Law workgroup at the DI.
The public lecture was followed by a panel discussion with Hanna Suchocka, Dimitry Kochenov, Barbara Grabowska-Moroz, the director of the Rule of Law Clinic, and Balazs Trencsenyi, CEU Professor, director of the CEU Institute for Advanced Study and researcher at the DI’s Democracy and History Workgroup.
