Application of Article 7 of the TEU: the cases of Poland, Hungary and Romania

Some of the member states of the European Union are currently facing a rule of law crisis characterized by threats to the independence of the judiciary, to the media or to the freedom of speech. The situation is most critical in Hungary and Poland where these values are being systematically violated. However, Romania is also among the member states facing a crisis of the rule of law,mainly because of the threatsto the independence of judiciary and the limitation of anti-corruption measures. Since the value of the rule of law is enshrined in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union, its violation is a reason for sanctioning the member state. The European Union has several instruments at its disposal to sanction these states and as well protect European values. One of the most important is the mechanism under the Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union which can cause a member state to lose its voting rights in the Council of the European Union. Using the process tracing method, the thesis traces the steps taken by the European institutions to apply this mechanism in the cases of Poland, Hungary, and Romania. The aim of the thesis is to determine whether there are interdependencies among the three cases. Based on the research, it can be concluded that there are significant differences among the..