Paper reflects years of work/engagement with toolbox, relies on multiple docs secured via access requests, and of course excellent work of colleagues such @rdanielkelemen.bsky.social @kimlanelaw.bsky.social @tommasopavone.bsky.social @petrabard.bsky.social @profkochenov.bsky.social to name but a few

Paper now available here democracyinstitute.ceu.edu/articles/lau... For those of you familiar with the EU's rule of law toolbox, you can go straight to the section offering concrete/multiple examples of timid use, misuse and non-use of the main EU prevention/monitoring & response/enforcement tools

Von der Leyen says the return of the Ukrainian children kidnapped by Russia must be a "crucial element" in any plan. "Of all the horrors unleashed by Russia's war, none cuts deeper than this. Tens of thousands of boys and girls remain trapped in Russia. Frightened and longing for their loved ones."

Yes- @profpech.bsky.social & @onethuthree.bsky.social - earlier Weber tried to work with the far right inside EPP, now he tries to work with the right as partners to EPP. He is consistent in always being willing to work with the far right

Old enough to remember Weber sacrificing EPP values *for years* before being forced to confront Orban’s EPP membership and only earlier this week, he was lecturing us on importance of rule of law and EU values more generally… www.euronews.com/2019/03/08/e... @rdanielkelemen.bsky.social

Not only is Trump making war on the past, but now he is making war on the pasta. www.wsj.com/world/europe...

Some of us predicted this outcome from the very launch of this EU rule of law reporting tool. See eg @rdanielkelemen.bsky.social writing in 2020 eulawlive.com/op-ed-you-ca...

Ukraine is showing "remarkable commitment" to joining the EU, but must reverse recent negative trends in the fight against corruption and accelerate rule of law reforms, the European Commission said in a draft text seen by Reuters on Monday.

CNN/SSRS poll Generic ballot 🔵Democratic 47% 🔴 Republican 42% Trump approval Disapprove 63% Approve 37% 10/27-10/30 www.cnn.com/2025/11/03/p...

The problem of #housing - one of the most important problems of European citizens - is included in the agenda for today’s #EUCO summit. For the first time ever, the European Council, Commission and Parliament are accepting their role in tackling the housing crisis. Very positive development.

Not a single mention of this across the Sunday shows as far as I could tell

Viktor Orbán multiplie les provocations et ne semble connaître qu’un logiciel : celui du « non » ➡️ https://l.la-croix.com/kpd

Really big if confirmed: @danielfreund.bsky.social suspects Hungarian government of undertaking spyware attacks on European parliamentarians danielfreund.eu/after-spywar...

New attempt at "Divide and Rule:"

Pritzker: "He wants to militarize major cities because he wants us to get used to the idea of troops on the streets. I believe he's gonna post people outside of polling places and if he needs to in order to control those elections, he'll assume control of the ballot boxes & count the votes himself"

I mean how can such a body be considered a court within the meaning of EU law...? cc @kimlanelaw.bsky.social @rdanielkelemen.bsky.social @profkochenov.bsky.social @grabowskamoroz.bsky.social @tjmcintyre.com

Pritzker: "This guy is unhinged. He's insecure. He's a wannabe dictator. And there's one thing I really want to say to Donald Trump. If you come for my people, you come through me. So come and get me."

🔥 Finally an EU leader says it out loud: “We have been incredibly naive in entrusting our democratic space to social networks that are controlled either by large American entrepreneurs or large Chinese companies, whose interests are not at all the survival or proper functioning of our democracies.”

reminder re Merkel’s enabling of autocrats in Hungary and elsewhere www.politico.eu/article/ange... @rdanielkelemen.bsky.social

NYT/Siena poll confirms what most other polls have shown of late - the country has rejected his "strongman" authoritarian tactics, and he is deeply unpopular. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/p...

While others debate the merits of a legalistic change to voting procedures to get around Orban’s veto on starting Ukraine’s technical accession talks, the commission has another idea: Ignore Hungary and just get on with it

Great result in Moldova's parliamentary election - comfortable win for pro-EU PAS who will likely hold onto absolute majority of seats Complete failure for Russia's massive interference and disinformation

‘Under Costa’s proposal, so-called negotiating clusters — key legal steps on the path to membership — could be opened with the assent of a qualified majority of EU countries rather than unanimous agreement. Closing a cluster would still require [unanimity]’ www.politico.eu/article/anto...

Everywhere you look, the EU is busy figuring out how to bypass the Hungarian veto. Yesterday it was about using frozen Russian assets, today it’s Ukraine’s accession. They’re focused on legal formulas, not action against #Hungary — there’s no majority for that. Welcome, EU-26! 🤗

Missing Guardian of the Treaties (latest). Nothing new however unfortunately www.politico.eu/article/curi... @rdanielkelemen.bsky.social @tommasopavone.bsky.social

The EO 🧵 bsky.app/profile/donm...

This is the point of the new EO: it is to make people think twice before they provide their honest evaluation of the Trump regime. You called them fascist? Well, you must be antifa. You call them authoritarian? You are inciting terrorism.

The European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) voted today against lifting the immunity of left-wing Italian MEP Ilaria Salis, arguing that she would not get a fair trial in Viktor Orbán’s Hungary.

Latest projection suggests that more than 505,000 adults and kids have died due to USAID's illegal dismantling by Musk, Rubio, and Lewin Source: www.impactcounter.com/dashboard?vi...

The problem is not their ideology. Ideological compromise is necessary. The problem is that the current generation of leadership never wanted fighting Trump and cleaning up after him to be their main job. They have no stomach for the style of politics that is now necessary.

Very disturbing trend of testing NATO's preparedness, resolve, and unity... obviously, directly related to Trump's presidency. It again shows that "Europe" is lost without the U.S. and has not yet planned for a post-U.S. security future.

I know that complaints about headlines are annoying, but they do represent editorial choices that convey agency and responsibility to reader. Framing this as being about gender ideology is like framing Kimmel's removal as being about Kirk. Shrouds the real role of govt actors & power in censorship.

Emboldened by the Trump 2.0 administration, Orban-funded "researchers" are laying the ground for questioning some of the key tenets of European integration.

Shame on Downing Street for going along with this. So much for being committed to a free press

REPORTER: How much wealthier are you now than when you returned to the WH? TRUMP: The deals I made for the most part, other than what my kids are doing - they're running my business - were made before. Where are you from? R: Australia T: In my opinion you are hurting Australia right now. Quiet.

No kings

If domestic troop deployments are so great, why aren't they sending troops to Louisiana's 4th congressional district? Surely Speaker Johnson's constituents also deserve this valuable government service.

The "papers, please" presidency

What if ICE is standing around outside the polls arresting people off the street in heavily Latino areas? What if the National Guard are deployed outside the polls in heavily Black areas?

My rule of law toolbox creation cycle theory at work (misguided focus on tools and alleged shortcomings to project facade of action rather than confronting lack of political will to apply tools in proper/forceful way and tackle serial rule of law violators) cc @rdanielkelemen.bsky.social

📚 #Back2School with JEPP! Kick off the semester with our collections 👇 ⚖️ Reacting to democratic backsliding in the European Union 📈 The politics of European competitiveness in the twin transition 💥 EU Integration in Crisis 💪 Public Legitimacy in and about the EU

Restricting voting access disproportionally to political opponents is a hallmark of electoral authoritarian regimes. talkingpointsmemo.com/news/a-texas...

Maybe of interest to @profpech.bsky.social, @rdanielkelemen.bsky.social, @kimlanelaw.bsky.social, @tomtheuns.bsky.social, @tverellen.bsky.social…

Whether or not these people are actual foreign agents is almost irrelevant. Their actions are observationally equivalent to & indistinguishable from the actions actual foreign agents would be taking. The consequences of our total Article I constitutional crisis, right here:

In poli sci, "the top 20% of departments produced 75% of all faculty and the bottom 50% accounted for less than 5% of all tenure track faculty members at a research university. 49 programs did not have a single graduate placed in a TT position at a PhD-granting department in the past 10 years."

Patriots. A lesson for the knee-benders at Paul Weiss, Christopher Wray, Columbia University, etc.

We either live in a country where the president is subject to the law or we don't.