Ett blint öga till Polen? : En kvalitativ fallstudie om EU:s hantering av Polen

During the last ten years the European union has faced several new challenges, especially with regards to the democratic backsliding that has been happening in its member states. Poland, which has had a positive democratic development and has been seen as being in the forefront of positive democratic consolidation, has since 2015 changed course towards becoming authoritarian regimes. EU has acted against this development, but this hasn’t stopped Poland in growing even more in an authoritarian direction.The aim of this paper is to examine what actions the European union has taken to stop the democratic backsliding in Poland through normative power, and what are the reasons for the failure of EU’s earlier sanctions against Poland. The conclusion of this thesis is that EU has used all the tools at its disposal to deal with Poland, without much success. What can be seen is that the member states in the union don’t always agree on defending the same values. But also, that the legal procedure to pursue a member which has gone against the core values of the union, are far too complicated. But it is not only dark, but as brighter future might also be ahead of EU, as its latest actions against Poland might be having an effect.