The Change of the Role of Fundamental Rights and Rule of Law in the European Integration

Abstract

Nowadays, the European Union considers the protection of Rule of Law in the member states to be one of its most important duties from its very foundation. However, references to fundamental rights and Rule of Law have been relatively recently inserted in the Treaties. By examining the history of legal development of the EU and the preceding European Communities, it becomes clear that originally national authorities requested the European institutions to give more guarantees for the protection of fundamental rights. For a long time, the institutions of the European integration have tried to gradually meet these expectations. A change in this logic can be observed from the end of the 1990s, according to which EU institutions formulate more and more serious requirements against the member states.