Challenges and possibilities of enforcing the rule of law within the EU constitutional edifice-the need for increased role of court of justice, EU charter and diagonality in perception

Abstract

This chapter deals with the phenomena of rule of law within the constitutional edifice of European Union. The aim is to determine its content and scope and to elaborate its promotion and enforcement in practice. A traditional approach sees this principle mostly as one-way-street focused only on Member States and as political requirement enforceable by the political procedures (Article 7 TEU). This chapter covers the rule of law as two-way proviso addressed to the EU itself and the Member States and discusses alternatives of its promotion. The key hypothesis is that operability of the rule of law concept requires its diagonal application, depoliticisation and judicialisation and concretisation via visible list of contents (in our proposal the EU Charter).