Binding the Guardian: On the European Commission’s Failure to Safeguard the Rule of Law

This study investigates the European Commission’s capacity to safeguard the rule of law in the European Union. With reference to the Commission's annual Rule of Law reports for 2020 and 2021 for Spain, France, and Bulgaria, it finds that the Commission does not fulfil its duties as ‘Guardian of the Treaties’ with these reports as it “fails to give justification for the selectivity of information it has included, is prone to the use of obscure language that condones inherent threats to the rule of law and systemic institutional deficiencies, and is swayed by political bias.” Though these yearly country Rule of Law reports are not binding, the study finds that “when mishandled, this seemingly innocuous policy tool can do serious damage.” The authors argue that the country reports must be brought in line with the rule of law and sets down a series of recommendations to this end. As well as changes to the methodology and presentation of the country-specific reports, they make the case for the creation of a citizen-centered rule of law platform on which citizens share experiences of rule of law breaches and call the Commission to account for the way it monitors the rule of law.

The study was commissioned by MEP Clare Daly.