The European Policy Centre, its Connecting Europe project, and the CEU Democracy Institute are pleased to invite you to the upcoming event “The Rule of Law beyond the EU Member States: Assessing the Union’s Performance 2025” on 30 October 2025, 12.00-13.30, at European Policy Centre (Rue du Trône, 14-16, 1000 Brussels) and online.
The rule of law is critical to democracy and the functioning of the European Union. Deteriorating standards in several EU member states threaten corruption, fair elections, and erode mutual trust between EU member states. While EU institutions are responsible for safeguarding the rule of law, the European Commission’s Annual Rule of Law Reports fail to assess the EU’s own rule of law performance.
To address this gap, the Rule of Law Clinic at the Central European University Democracy Institute in Budapest has produced the second edition of the Shadow Rule of Law Report, which evaluates the rule of law within the EU. The report discusses recent developments in access to the court in the EU, main issues in the anti-corruption framework, and also significant problems in the internal market dimension of the rule of law at the EU level. The report also examines how geopolitical factors influence the enforcement of the rule of law by EU institutions, as well as the enforcement of the EU’s own laws.
This hybrid Policy Dialogue, co-organised by Connecting Europe and the Rule of Law Clinic at the CEU Democracy Institute, will present the main findings of the report and discuss the major rule of law challenges facing the EU with EU decision-makers, civil society and academia.
Speakers:
* Dr. Barbara Grabowska-Moroz, Senior Research Fellow and Director of Rule of Law Clinic at CEU Democracy Institute
* Prof. Dimitry Kochenov, Founder and Co-Director of Rule of Law Clinic at CEU Democracy Institute
* Prof. Laurent Pech, Co-Director of the Rule of Law Clinic at CEU Democracy Institute
* Tineke Strik, Member of the European Parliament
* Sarah Ganty (Yale Law School, New Haven; UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve; CEU Democracy Institute)
* Florian Geyer, Head of Unit for Rule of Law, DG JUST
* Javier Carbonell, Policy Analyst, European Policy Centre
Moderated by Dr. Joelle Grogan, Academic Co-Director of the Rule of Law Clinic at CEU Democracy Institute
To participate in person, please register here.
For online participation, please register here.
First edition of the report can be found here.
