Jean Monnet Chair on Democratic Resilience through Law

forthcoming

In the past decade, the European Union has been going through a crisis that challenges and transforms its self-conception as a community of values. While Article 2 TEU states that the EU is founded on, among others, the value of democracy, the rule of law and the respect for human rights that are common to the Member States, academia and EU institutions have been primarily focused on one particular value, the rule of law, and within that, judicial independence. At the same time, equally important issues concerning the value of democracy remained indirectly addressed at best. However, as underlined by the European Commission, the three values are intrinsically interlinked. Hence the value of democracy shall be also put into the spotlight, in particular the role of legal guarantees in insuring the resilience of democracies. Against this background, the project has three focal points. First, it explores and maps the connection between democracy and the rule of law as parts of the identity of the EU’s legal order. Second, it evaluates the rule of law toolbox from the point of view of safeguarding democracy, with special emphasis on the practice of the conditionality mechanisms. Lastly, the project looks into the hardships of restoring democracy in a Member State by way of restoring the rule of law. With these specific objectives in mind, the Jean Monnet Chair aims to integrate issues related to the role of legal guarantees of EU law in insuring the resilience of democracies in times of crises in the curriculum of legal education. Part of the project is the dissemination of knowledge on these issues amongst practicing lawyers and judges primarily in Hungary, as well as organising a course in these matters for students of other faculties. The courses and the trainings shall be held by the chairholder and two associates. The project shall involve the education of an estimated 250 students, as well as 40 judges and practitioners annually.