Sustaining the Rule of Law

Edited by Petra Bárd, Professor of Sustainable Rule of Law and Jasper Krommendijk, Professor of Human Rights Law, Research Centre for State and Law (SteR), Radboud University, the Netherlands

‘At a time of spreading and deepening rule of law backsliding, this interdisciplinary volume helpfully unpacks how would-be autocrats have sought and, in some cases, succeeded in systematically undermining judicial independence in the EU. Multifaceted responses from local, national and European actors and potential solutions to better defend and restore judicial independence are also offered making this volume an important addition to the literature on judicial independence in an era of growing authoritarian populism.’

• ContentsList of contributors vii1 Introduction: sustaining judicial independence 1Petra Bárd and Jasper Krommendijk2 A case for the judicial enforcement of principles 37Kim Lane Scheppele3 Why judicial independence collapses: constitutional identityto Mars, the rule of law to Venus? 58Violeta Beširević4 Sustainable rule of law and democracy: another perspective 79Zoltán Fleck5 Judicial independence: an argument that even populists willlove 99Károly Bárd6 The European Commission’s Rule of Law Report in the areaof judicial independence 109Wouter van Ballegooij and Matthias Schmidt7 Constitutional avoidance and values enforcement in theEuropean Union: pattern or policy? 138Barbara Grabowska-Moroz8 To catch the wind: the protection of judicial independence bythe European Court of Human Rights 164Rick Lawson9 Blowing the rule of law away? Autocratic legalism meetssupranational opportunism 186Dimitry V. Kochenov10 Three requirements for developing an independent judiciaryin Ukraine: the contribution of the OECD 5th round ofmonitoring the Ukrainian judiciary (2023–2024) 206Kees Sterk11 The role of the Romanian Judges’ Forum Association indefending the rule of law 221Dragoș Călin12 An accident waiting to happen? Risks of centralized courtadministration and how to address them 243Theo Tsomidis13 Rebuilding and keeping the rule of law: of signposts, lessons,and our civic fidelities 262Tomasz Tadeusz Koncewicz14 Unpacking judicial resistance: Europe’s national judges andrule of law backsliding 287John Morijn15 The role of independent competition authorities as quasi-courts in defending rule of law values in Europe 308Kati Cseres16 Conclusion to Sustaining the Rule of Law 329Petra Bárd and Jasper Krommendijk