The Rule of Law in Countries of the European Union

Rad analizira primjere slabljenja načela vladavine prava u državama članicama Europske unije. Načelo vladavina prava jedno je od temeljnih vrijednosti na kojima počivaju moderne liberalne demokracije, a ono je kao takvo priznato i u čl. 2. Ugovora o Europskoj uniji. Posljednje desetljeće obilježile su promjene vlasti u pojedinim državama Europske unije koje su uzrokovale nazadovanje vladavine prava, tzv. rule of law backsliding te postoji opasnost prelijevanja negativnih pojava na druge države. Fokus Europske unije, u tom kontekstu, usmjeren je ponajviše na Poljsku i Mađarsku, međutim negativne pojave mogu se primijetiti u više članica. Zajednička obilježja takvog slabljenja vladavine prava svakako su vlast populističkih stranaka, narušavanje neovisnosti pravosuđa, ponajviše Vrhovnih i Ustavnih sudova, narušavanje diobe vlasti te koncentracija moći u rukama jedne grane vlasti.The paper analyses examples of the weakening of the rule of law principle in the European Union Member States. The rule of law principle is one of the fundamental values on which modern liberal democracies are based, and it is also recognised as such in Art. 2. of the Treaty on European Union. The last decade has been marked by changes of government in some European Union countries that have caused a backlash of the rule of law, the so-called rule of law backsliding, and there is a risk of spilling over negative trends on the other countries. Focus of the European Union, in this context, is mainly on Poland and Hungary, however negative trends can be observed in several Member States. The common features of such weakening of the rule of law are certainly the authority of populist parties, the violation of the judicial independence, most notably the Supreme and Constitutional Courts, the violation of the separation of powers and the concentration of power in the hands of one branch