Since 2024, the Rule of Law Clinic at the CEU Democracy Institute (Budapest) has published the ‘missing rule of law chapter’: an independently produced report assessing the EU’s own adherence to EU rule of law standards. Such reporting recognizes that without a meaningful assessment of its own compliance with rule of law and the way it makes use of its rule of law toolbox, the EU weakens its credibility.
The third edition of the report, Rule of Law beyond the EU Member States: Assessing the Union’s Performance 2026, offers a synthetic assessment of the EU’s performance across several fields: justice system; anti-corruption measures; media freedom; the Single Market; and institutional checks and balances. Progress is noticeable in several areas, including the Commission’s steps towards ECHR accession and protecting media freedom. There are also positive developments in the Court of Justice’s case law in the fields of anti-corruption and transparency. However, persistent challenges and arguable violations of EU rule of law requirements are identified.
Access to justice is undermined where restrictive standing requirements, paired with a lack of political will among privileged applicants, can lead to situations in which there is no possibility of legal accountability over EU actions. Inconsistent or non-enforcement of rule of law obligations in Member States by the Commission also undermines rule of law, where often political considerations appear to trump legal obligations. The use of omnibus legislation presents manifest rule of law risks. Continued deficiencies in migration management, including transparency and accountability deficits in funding, reliance on soft law partnerships without oversight, and the operational practices of Frontex, remain systemic issues raising serious rule of law concerns.
The persistence of these issues underlines the need for both independent monitoring of the rule of law situation at EU level, as well as interrogation of how the Commission evaluates compliance with rule of law standards within Member States.
Dr Barbara Grabowska-Moroz, Rule of Law Clinic Director, said: “Recognition of prior editions of the ‘shadow’ rule of law report confirms that a discussion about the conformity of the EU system with basic rule of law principles should be further developed in order to increase EU resilience against democratic backsliding at the supranational level.”
The founder of the CEU Rule of Law Clinic, Professor Dimitry Kochenov said: “Avoiding double standards in the rigorous application of the Rule of Law and human rights compliance is essential in the European legal space. Since the EU does not assess itself, we stepped in to bridge the gap and ensure that supranational power does not rest unchecked.”
Academic Co-Director of the CEU Rule of Law Clinic, Professor Laurent Pech said: “At a time where the rule of law continues to be seriously threatened if not actively undermined within and beyond the EU, we need to make sure the EU complies with its rule of law obligations and matches its pro-rule of law rhetoric with action.”
