The bumpy road to rule of law enforcement : the Commission's 2020 annual rule of law report

The paper assesses whether the von der Leyen Commission could give a realistic picture of the state of the rule of law in its first ever Rule of Law report of September 2020. On the plus side, the Commission starts with a clear definition of the rule of law, dispelling any fabricated arguments about the vagueness or even uselessness of the concept. The Commission promises to make the reporting exercise a regular one, treating Member States on an equal basis. The broad selection of relevant subject matters covered allows the reader to gain an overview of where Europe stands with regard to the rule of law. On the minus side the Commission aims at preventing violations and to provide a platform for dialogue – concepts incomprehensible and irrelevant in countries where state capture already happened. The report at times tries to give a qualitative analysis, but when it comes to systemic breaches, it fails to give the necessary context, and to connect the dots. But since all the national reports have enumerations of negative and positive developments, just by reading the Annual Reports one does not grasp how hybrid authoritarian regimes are qualitatively different from resilient democracies. On the side of authoritarian regimes, this approach also fuels whataboutery. Finally, the success of any monitoring exercise will depend on whether the response prong of the EU’s rule of law enforcement mechanism manages to attach dissuasive and efficient consequences in due time to values’ violations