Page 10 - Position Paper

EU Rule of Law Primary and Secondary Legislation

Article 7 of the Treaty of the EU (introduced by the Lisbon

Treaty in 2009) describes a mechanism which may be activated in
response to breaches by Member States of fundamental values of the
European Union, including the Rule of Law (https://eur-

lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A12012M007). The
activation takes place in two stages:
Initially, the Council, acting by a majority of four fifths of its
members, may determine that there is a clear risk of a serious breach by

a Member State of the values referred to in Article 2.
Then, the European Council, acting by unanimity, may
determine the existence of “a serious and persistent breach” by a

Member State of the values referred to in Article 2. Once such a
determination has been made, the Council, acting by a qualified
majority (55% of Member States which represent at least 65% of the
Union’s population), may decide to suspend certain rights of the

Member State in question, including the voting rights in the EU
Council.

Further Steps for Better Protection the Rule of Law

Despite the preventive mechanism enshrined in Article 7 of the
EU founding treaty, the Union made further steps and introduced
stricter measures for protecting the Rule of Law. In 2018, the European

Commission initiated a new regulation which implied making the EU
budgetary support for Members States, including the disbursement of
EUR 750 billion coronavirus recovery fund, conditional to Rule-of-Law

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