Articles for category: Hungary: Taking action

The Crisis of Democracy in Hungary and Romania – Learning from Weimar?

Hungary’s political development under the Orbán government is by now a familiar topic. In April Barroso confirmed the European Commission’s concern that Hungary’s new constitution infringe EU legislation and the rule of law. Indeed, some commentators speak of ‘the corrosion of constitutional democracy’ or even a possible dictatorship in the EU. Romania is another problematic case. Its slide towards authoritarianism has not been (yet) enshrined in a new constitution. But its 2012 political crisis has seen by some as a coup d’état, during which Ponta’s government aimed at removing all checks and balances on its power to impeach President Băsescu. ... continue reading

13. Mai 2013

The Hungarian Dilemma from a Pluralist Perspective

The constitutional and political developments in Hungary in the last few years have stirred a lot of controversies and also raised significant academic attention. This blog has provided not only a wonderful forum for an exchange of different views, but it has also produced original and thought-provoking proposals for tackling the Hungarian problem. However, the “reverse Solange” idea, the call for the establishment of a special Copenhagen Commission, for a straightforward supremacy of the Charter and other insightful proposals, all appear to be addressing the Hungarian dilemma from within the constitutional register. This is, of course, a legitimate choice, but ... continue reading

8. Mai 2013

The Sense and Nonsense of a Copenhagen Commission

1. Failings The political actors themselves admit that it was a mistake to push for fulfillment of the Copenhagen criteria for accession while having no evaluation mechanisms for reviewing a country’s sustained adherence to the criteria following its accession – and now arguing that this could be set aright through establishment of a Copenhagen Commission, understood as a watchdog, that red-flags a given country’s drift into crude nationalism à la Hungary. It is also correct that we not expect too much of the “nuclear option” of Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU). The process does not provide ... continue reading

8. April 2013

Sinn und Unsinn einer Kopenhagen-Kommission

1. Versäumnisse Von den politischen Akteuren wird eingeräumt, dass es ein Fehler war, auf die Erfüllung der Kopenhagen-Kriterien für den Beitritt zu drängen, nach dem erfolgreichen Beitritt aber keine Evaluierungsmechanismen für die Überprüfung der dauerhaften Einhaltung der Kriterien in der Hand zu haben. Das könnte durch die Einrichtung einer Kopenhagen-Kommission, verstanden als watchdog, die auf das Abgleiten in einen kruden Nationalismus à la Ungarn aufmerksam macht, nachgeholt werden. Richtig ist auch, dass wir von der „nuklearen Option“ des Art. 7 EUV nicht zu viel erwarten können. Dass dieses Verfahren keinen Ausschluss aus der Union vorsieht, hat allerdings gute Gründe, die ... continue reading

8. April 2013

Opening the enforcement of EU fundamental values to European citizens

Over the last two years, the adoption, implementation and, more recently, amendment of the new Hungarian Constitution have sparked widespread political and academic discussion motivated by the controversial genesis and contents of that document. Debates on a European scale have revolved around the difficulties encountered by the European Union in contrasting the corrosion of constitutional democracy in one of its member states. Following a consolidated trend in European studies, also in this occasion the blame has been thrown on the EU institutional framework. If there are problems, it seems, this is mainly because the available instruments of enforcement are inadequate. ... continue reading

7. April 2013

Supremacy of the EU Charter in National Courts in Purely Domestic Cases

The European Union is not just a community based on common interests but is also a community of values. These values are peace, democracy, the rule of law and human rights. If the EU does not want to lose its credibility, it has a duty to defend all of these values to the greatest extent possible, at least within Europe, and especially within the European Union. The different options of how to enforce these values do not exclude, but rather reinforce each other. Most of them depend on political discretion (isolation of the political party concerned within its European party ... continue reading

27. März 2013

The EU Is More Than A Constraint On Populist Democracy

Jan-Werner Müller’s eloquent proposal on what the EU should do when one (or more) of its Member States seems to be sliding towards authoritarianism follows the logic of the idea of constrained democracy, put forward in Müller’s recent work on the history of political thought in the 20th century Europe. While I find this vision of the EU appealing (and find Müller’s work on the EU deeply inspiring), I do not think that it is based on a faithful reconstruction of the integration process and the accompanying ‘post-war constitutional settlement’. I fear that Müller’s idealisation, no matter how well it ... continue reading

25. März 2013

Less Constraint of Popular Democracy, More Empowerment of Citizens

While I share Müller’s concern about the situation in Hungary and Romania, and agree that a ‘Copenhagen Commission’ might be a good addition to safeguard the basic democratic values in the EU, I differ significantly in the assessment of the nature of the solution. Below, I will first discuss this difference in approach, which focuses less on constraining popular democracy and more on empowering citizens, and then offer some comments on the possible structure and power of the ‘Copenhagen Commission’. Müller’s argument, as in his fascinating book, is one based on the ethics of containment – that it is necessary ... continue reading

22. März 2013

„What“ versus „Who“: Europe’s Rule of Law Agenda Revisited

As we all know, observance of the “Rule of Law” is a central criterium for accession. The way this concept is handled in the enlargement process raises a number of serious concerns, addressed in a recent paper by Rachel Kleinfeld and myself, entitled “RETHINKING EUROPE’S RULE OF LAW AND ENLARGEMENT AGENDA: THE FUNDAMENTAL DILEMMA”. In it, we advocate inter alia a consistent rule of law approach across the EU instead of keeping the Copenhagen criteria solely for the realm of the enlargement process. The background for the paper is this: In 2010, noting problems inter alia in Romania and Bulgaria, ... continue reading

21. März 2013

Die EU als wehrhafte Demokratie, oder: Warum Brüssel eine Kopenhagen-Kommission braucht

Kann es innerhalb der Europäischen Union eine Diktatur geben?  Vor ein paar Jahren wäre solch eine Frage noch als interessante Spielerei in der politischen Theorie abgetan worden.  Angesichts der jüngsten Entwicklungen in Ungarn und Rumänien ist es plötzlich ernst mit einer Möglichkeit, die in Brüssel nie öffentlich thematisiert wurde.  Soll die EU nun als Hüterin der Demokratie agieren und die europäischen Völker sozusagen vor sich selber (oder zumindest vor ihren eigenen Regierungen) schützen?  Oder wird Brüssel dadurch zu einem pan-europäischen Polit-Polizisten, welcher Bürgern von Lappland bis Lampedusa das einzig wahre Demokratieverständnis vorschreibt?  Die Gefahr eines supranationalen Paternalismus sollte man erstnehmen ... continue reading

13. März 2013