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The EU’s Illiberal Democracies

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Abstract

This chapter deals with Europe’s “illiberal” democracies, in particular Hungary and Poland and a broader and growing “crisis of democracy” in the EU. It explores how this trend did not emerge in a vacuum: it developed gradually after the Eurozone crisis from 2010 and was hyper-charged by the ineffectual responses of the EU institutions to these problems. The rise of these pan-European quasi-autocracies threaten both the formal rule of EU law and the political stability of Europe as a whole, and this chapter explores the EU’s response to these challenges, and what policies it needs to implement going forward.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Treaty of Lisbon–Treaty on the European Union CONSOLIDATED VERSION OF THE TREATY ON EUROPEAN UNION.

  2. 2.

    https://www.theguardian.com/…/viktor-orban-showdown-with-eus-centre-right-looms-fo….

  3. 3.

    Guardian.com, 17 March 2017.

  4. 4.

    https://www.theguardian.com/…/viktor-orban-calls-anti-migration-politics-take-over-eu-….

  5. 5.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/10/viktor-orban-calls-anti-migration-politics-take-over-eu-matteo-salvini.

  6. 6.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/gdpr-consent/?destination=%2fworld%2feurope%2fhungary-is-so-desperate-for-kids-mothers-of-four-wont-pay-income-tax%2f2019%2f02%2f11%2f04701764-2e01-11e9-ac6c-14eea99d5e24_story.html%3f&utm_term=.e2b6a9642a6f.

  7. 7.

    https://spectator.clingendael.org/en/publication/hungarys-systematic-threat-eu-core-values#footnote4_dahhymh.

  8. 8.

    https://spectator.clingendael.org/en/publication/hungarys-systematic-threat-eu-core-values#footnote7_5nn365o.

  9. 9.

    Member of European Parliament (MEP) Judith Sargentini was assigned the task of drafting this report. The report includes a long list of issues that—taken together—constitute a clear risk of a serious breach of the shared values of the EU by Hungary. In September 2018, Parliament adopted the report with the required two-thirds majority and concluded that protection of EU values must immediately be guaranteed through the commencement of the Article 7 procedure.

  10. 10.

    The Central European University (CEU) has been forced to relocate its main campus from Budapest to Vienna.

  11. 11.

    Member of European Parliament (MEP) Judith Sargentini was assigned the task of drafting this report. The report includes a long list of issues that—taken together—constitute a clear risk of a serious breach of the shared values of the EU by Hungary. In September 2018, Parliament adopted the report with the required two-thirds majority and concluded that protection of EU values must immediately be guaranteed through the commencement of the Article 7 procedure.

  12. 12.

    https://www.theguardian.com/…/viktor-orban-showdown-with-eus-centre-right-looms-fo….

  13. 13.

    The popular messaging app owned by Facebook.

  14. 14.

    The 2018 case revealed that personal data of millions of people’s Facebook profiles had been “harvested” without their consent for political purposes.

  15. 15.

    EU Strategic Agenda for 2019–2024—Consilium.europa.eu.

  16. 16.

    Donald Tusk was appointed President of the EU Council in 2014.

  17. 17.

    “The Separation of powers” separates the legislature, executive and judicial functions of government.

  18. 18.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-46296859.

  19. 19.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-46296859.

  20. 20.

    Which Poland ascribed to as part of the acquis communautaire when joining in 2004.

  21. 21.

    https://www.politico.eu/article/local-elections-deal-a-blow-to-polands-ruling-pis/.

  22. 22.

    Poland is to hold Parliamentary Elections on 13 October 2019.

  23. 23.

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/22/europe-populist-democratic-resistance.

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Correspondence to John Theodore .

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Theodore, J. (2019). The EU’s Illiberal Democracies. In: Survival of the European (Dis) Union. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31214-5_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-31214-5_5

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-31213-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-31214-5

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