POLICY BRIEF SERIES

The EU’s Rule of Law Report 2020 and its discontents. Main Findings and Future Prospects

No. 5 (December 2020) Bogdan Mureșan

SUMMARY

In September 2020, the European Commission published its first country-by-country assessment on the rule of law in all 27 Member States. The comprehensive document covers four pillars – the justice system, the anti-corruption framework, media pluralism, and other institutional issues related to checks and balances – and is part of a new rule of law mechanism. The dedicated country chapters are based upon contributions from the Member States and a variety of already available sources, using a qualitative, albeit flawed methodology. While pointing to a host of positive aspects, the report also highlights “concerns” and “serious concerns” regarding worrying developments or democratic backsliding in various Member States, including in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it refrains from issuing concrete policy recommendations and has no binding power. This paper aims to briefly present the main findings of the report, some of its inherent shortcomings and future prospect.

EU Support for the Rule of Law in Post-Conflict Reconstruction the Case of Kosovo: Lessons Learned and Ways Forward

No. 4 (October 2020) Ana Cojocaru

Summary

In recent years, the EU’s renewed focus on rule of law and common democratic values has not been limited to matters concerning member states – rather, the Union has been acting as an exporter of norms and democratization in its close neighbourhood, particularly in candidate and potential candidate states. Such an example is the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX), which acted as a test of the EU’s normative power – one that the Union seems to be struggling with for the past 12 years. This paper aims to analyse the impact EULEX has had in the consolidation of rule of law in Kosovo, to review the lessons learned from the Kosovar example, and to develop a set of recommendations for policy makers, which can be extrapolated to other post-conflict situations.

After the billion went missing.The pathological turn of Europeanization in the Republic of Moldova

No. 3 (July 2020) Raluca Pantilimon

Summary

This analysis of the EU-driven reform pathologies is supported by data on one side, of the perception indices on corruption (the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index, Corruption Perception Index of Transparency International, WGI, and the analyses of the Legal Resources Center from Moldova – on how lawyers relate to the corruption in Moldova from within the Moldovan judicial system), and, on the other side by looking at the progress made in the field of rule of law, mainly the EaP Index. Along with this, the analysis will be sensitive to the changes of government and the impact they had on the judicial independence, and to the high-level corruption convictions (the actors involved and their position vis-à-vis European matters). In the end, a set of recommendations will be provided for improving the EU’s approach towards reforming the justice system in Moldova, and for re-branding its role as a normative power in the region.

An analysis of Member States reports on Citizens’ assemblies on the future of Europe: COVID-19 as a chance to rethink methods

No. 2 (June 2020) Diana Tejerina and Alberto Caballero

Summary

The COVID19 pandemic has forced the EU to postpone the beginning of the conference on the Future of Europe scheduled for May 9th 2020. We argue that this may provide a chance to critically discuss the involvement of citizens and civil society in a discussion that the pandemic will make even more necessary. This policy brief addresses the problems that we identify in the national reports on the European Citizens Consultations (ECCs) in order to make recommendations on how the EU could make use of participatory methodologies. But this requires a clarification of the normative objectives that these consultations seek to obtain.

Hope beyond the CAP? Four ways for the EU to support small farmers and begin shaping digital agriculture

No. 1 (June 2020) Leon Kaiser

Summary

Today’s industrial agriculture continues to harm the environment while depopulation threatens the social, cultural and economic welfare of rural areas. The European Union needs to support existing agricultural practices that are sustainable today. Civic agriculture and small farmers are key to meet climate goals and mitigate the ongoing biodiversity loss. Drawing on recent discussions in digital policy, this brief proposes action in four areas that can help support small and family farmers in the EU in the short and long term.

Academic publications

Queralt Jiménez, Argelia (2020) “OpenEUdebate: combinando la política con las políticas” Revista Docencia y Derecho, (15), pp. 101-117.

Oleart, Álvaro and Bouza Garcia, Luis (2019) “La lutte narrative pour la signification et la politisation de « l’Europe » dans les négociations du TTIP : le récit de l’Europe bouclier contre le populisme transnational” Politique européenne 66 (4), pp. 16-43

Tuñón Navarro; Jorge; Oleart, Álvaro and Bouza García, Luis (2019) “Actores Europeos y Desinformación: la disputa entre el factchecking, las agendas alternativas y la geopolítica” Revista de comunicación, (18), 245-260.

Bouza García, Luis; Oleart, Álvaro and Tuñón Navarro, Jorge (2019) “Framing EU trade policy online: the case of@ NoAlTTIP on Twitter” Communication & Society, 32 (4), 257-273.