A Commentary on a Concept of a New Punitive Mechanism ‘Outside European Union Law’ Established to Better Discipline Countries Accused of Violating the Rule of Law

Attempts to resolve the crisis of values that the European Union (EU) has faced for years have involved developing the Union’s institutional structure and creating new bodies. The principle of the rule of law, which is a pillar of modern democracy, is one of the values most readily cited by both EU representatives and authors when criticising state legislation in areas such as freedom of the press, the administration of justice or principles of the electoral system. To prevent shortfalls in this principle both in the Member States and in the EU itself, it has been proposed that a new body be established to oversee Member States’ ongoing efforts to fully implement the rule of law. The purpose of this article is to critically analyse the proposal to establish a new body, called for simplicity the Rule of Law Commission. The path that led to the idea of creating such a Commission is also briefly outlined.