Title Challenging the rule of law in europe: how the rule of law crises occur? /
Translation of Title Iššūkiai teisės viršenybei Europoje - kaip įvyksta teisės viršenybės krizės?
Authors Oseckytė, Agnė
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Pages 61
Keywords [eng] rule of law, teisės viršenybė, TEU Art. 7 procedure, rule of law crisis, democracy backsliding, rule of law safeguards, Poland.
Abstract [eng] Challenging the Rule of Law in Europe: how the Rule of Law Crises Occur? European Union is suffering from the rule of law deficiencies in the Member States. The master thesis attempts to determine what short-comings in the legal system allow the rule of law crisis happen in established constitutional democracies and what could be the safeguards to prevent that from happening. The thesis argues that the rule of law as a concept can only be identified rather than defined, because of the wide usage in different contexts and its ambiguous nature. The rule of law crisis is defined as a situation when the violation of the principle is so severe that the legal order is fundamentally affected – cannot function properly without the resolution of the breach. Poland and Lithuania are compared based on their legal order linked to the Constitutional Court. The two countries where chosen as subjects because of shared history, similar political-legal systems and the importance of the strategic partnership between the two countries. During the analysis four areas of law where identified as most vulnerable: (1) justices appointment and removal procedures; (2) court and justice independence guarantees; (3) norms that prescribe the constitutional reviews procedure; (4) the provisions that mandate how norms and acts linked to constitutional order can be amended. The rule of law is addressed as a political and legal concept. Any solutions or safeguards must focus on that dual nature of the concept. International safeguards were found to be not sufficient enough without the support of national norms and political will to protect it effectively. Preventive nature of the safeguards that should be placed in the national legal order are emphasised the most.
Dissertation Institution Vilniaus universitetas.
Type Master thesis
Language English
Publication date 2019