20 years ago, the leaders of the EU and the Western Balkans committed themselves to the Thessaloniki Declaration. In the first few lines, they agreed on the unequivocal support towards the European perspective of the Western Balkan countries. The future of the Balkans was to be within the European Union. The Thessaloniki Declaration was an […]
rule of law
Despite high support for EU membership in Hungary, over a decade of Eurosceptic rhetoric by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party has had a lasting impact on voters’ attitudes. In the coming years, negative campaigns against the EU may become even more prevalent in Hungarian politics. Various aspects of the relationship between the Hungarian government […]
In its new methodology of the accession process, the EU has defined the rule-of-law as one of its fundamentals simnce 2020, underlining its importance as a core European value. All countries of the Western Balkan, despite reform efforts in the past and present, are struggling with organised crime and corruption, clientelism in their institutions, a weak judiciary and low trust of citizens in the system. The poor condition of the rule of law undermines the public’s trust in the effectiveness of democracy. In the long run, this can have disastrous effects on the democratic consolidation in the Western Balkans.
16 February 2022: the European Court of Justice (ECJ) rules against Hungary’s and Poland’s position on the Rule of Law Conditionality regulation. For the first time, the Court live-streams its ruling. This is more than just a ruling: the very essence of our Union was challenged. If we want to preserve our sacred values, we […]
The qualitative leap which was introduced in the European project in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis has brought higher levels of solidarity and cohesion. But there is still a long way to go. The speech of the president of the European Commission has outlined a few further steps, but many more need to be […]
The 2019 European elections finally saw the turnout going slightly up. In parallel, Social Democrats noted an unanticipated positive result. Almost two years into the legislative period, despite the pandemic, the polls consistently show two tendencies. First, Europeans tend to be positive about the EU in numbers comparable to before the 2008 crash. Second, progressives […]
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