The New EU instruments for the Protection of the Rule of Law: Towards a Techno-managerial Strategy?

This conference is part of the ANR research project entitled “The New EU Instruments For The Protection Of The Rule Of Law: Towards A Techno-managerial Strategy?” (MEDROI) led by Arnaud Van Waeyenberge, HEC Paris Professor of European Union Law and Roïla Mavrouli, CNRS PostDoc Research Fellow (GREGHEC), and gathering a consortium of six other European researchers of various disciplines.

Backgound

Today, Europe's "crisis of values" is linked to the many challenges the EU has faced in recent years - such as the sovereign debt crisis, the security crisis linked to the terrorist threat and the migration crisis. It has been characterised by a systemic deterioration, in some Member States, of the founding values of the EU. Indeed, some Member States are experiencing a significant decline in the rule of law, which has resulted in the establishment of electoral autocracies that seek to undermine the limits on the exercise of executive power in order to keep the dominant political party in power in the long term. These attacks have affected the independence of the judiciary in particular, but also the prohibition of discrimination, gender equality, freedom of the press, and the situation of migrants and refugees.
 
Faced with the ineffectiveness of the legal mechanisms used by its Member States to protect the rule of law (art. 7 TEU) and the limited impact of the case law of the CJEU, the European Union has developed a new strategy based on economic and techno-managerial instruments that were often not specifically designed to protect the rule of law, such as the European Semester, the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the European Structural and Investment Funds and the European budget. With these new instruments, the very notion of the rule of law is being transformed at European level.

Program

16 November 2023
18h - 20h

Keynote speech by Sébastien Platon, University of Bordeaux
 "The fabulous destiny of the rule of law in EU Law"

Francesco Martucci, University Paris 2 Assas
"État de droit : la neutralisation des compétences"

Roïla Mavrouli, CNRS GREGHEC Paris and Arnaud van Waeyenberge, HEC Paris
"Projet MEDROI : Conclusions, perspectives et prospectives"

17 November 2023
9h - 16h30

The Development of Instruments for the Indirect Protection of the Rule of Law

The EU perspective

9h - 10h30

Chair : Gregory Lewkowicz (ULB)

Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar, European Parliament (President Commission LIBE)
“Rule of law conditionality mechanism and its legal framework”

Martin Martinez Navarro, Court of Justice of the European Union (référendaire)
"Cartographie de la jurisprudence de la CJUE"

Alessandro Nucara, European Commission (DG Budget)
"The Union’s financial interest and the principles of the rule of law"

Antoine Misonne and Sofia Vandenbosch, Belgian Foreign Office and UCLouvain
"The Rule of Law Debate during the Belgian Presidency of the Council"

Discutant : Roïla Mavrouli, CNRS GREGHEC Paris

Coffee break 10h45 – 11h00

Systemic approach

11h - 12h30

Chair : David Restrepo Amariles (HEC Paris)

Julio Baquero-Cruz, European Commission (service juridique) / ULB
"La crise de l’État de droit et de la démocratie constitutionnelle en Europe : l’Union peut-elle répondre de manière efficace ?"

John Loughlin, Cambridge University
“The multilevel governance aspects of techno-managerial strategies for upholding the Rule of Law in the EU”

Pauline Thinus, ULB
“The EU’s transactional approach to rule of law spending conditionality in the 2020s”

Discutant : Ioannis Michalis, Le Mans University

Lunch break 13h00 – 14h30

The Consequences of Resorting to Instruments for the Indirect Protection of the Rule of Law within the European Union

15h - 16h30

Chair : Isabelle Rorive (ULB)

Ramona Coman et Leonardo Puleo, IEE ULB
"EU Regulatory State 3.0 for compliance with norms, principles, and values: Poland and Hungary’s responses to the Unions’ comprehensive conditionality regime"

Frédéric Marty, CNRS GREDEG
"Does the implementation of European competition policy move towards a techno-managerial approach?"

Salomé Cohen, University Paris 2 Assas
"État de droit en Pologne : une position inconciliable avec l’ « universalité » de la notion"

Discutant: Emmanuelle Bribosia, ULB and Judge at the Belgian Constitutional Court

Related Articles

Louise Fromont, Arnaud Van Waeyenberge, Trading rule of law for recovery? The new EU strategy in the post-Covid era, European Law Journal, Volume27, Issue1-3, 19 June 2022

Mavrouli, R., Van Waeyenberge, A., EU Responses to the Democratic Deficit and the Rule of Law Crisis: Is It Time for a (New) European Exceptionalism?. Hague J Rule Law (2023).

Roila Mavrouli, The dark relationship between the rule of law and liberalism. The new ECJ decision on the Conditionality Regulation, European Papers, Vol. 7, 2022, No 1, European Forum, Insight of 2 June 2022, pp. 275-286