VALOR – Values, Accountability, and Law: Examining the Constitutional Core and the Rule of Law in the European Union
VALOR – Values, Accountability, and Law: Examining the Constitutional Core and the Rule of Law in the European Union
The VALOR project will explore the constitutional core of the European Union, rooted in the EU Treaties and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, and how it evolves in response to significant internal threats to EU values (Article 2 Treaty on the EU) within Member States. These threats are often orchestrated by authorities democratically elected in free elections. The project will analyze the development of EU law in reaction to these challenges, focusing on various actors driving these transformations. This includes not only institutional actors such as the European Parliament, European Commission and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), but also a dimension of European society, such as national judges referring preliminary questions to the CJEU.
In addition, VALOR will examine the ongoing dynamic interactions between the European and national constitutional systems, especially judicial dialogue between the CJEU and constitutional courts in member states. It will highlight areas of alignment, but also points of tension and divergence, particularly in the context of systemic deficiencies in the rule of law and in the process of the rule of law restoration.
By studying both the institutional and societal forces at play, the project will provide a comprehensive analysis of how EU constitutional core is interpreted, redefined, challenged, and defended, and how these processes affect the Member States competences and integration within the EU.
The specific focus will be in the following areas:
- Enforcement of EU values and law in member states;
- Application of EU constitutional core by national judges;
- Good practices for the rule of law repair;
- Increasing institutional resilience to attacks on the rule of law;
- The relation between protecting the rule of law and the degree of fundamental rights protection in member states
- European society as an actor in the protection of the rule of law.
