The multi-level dynamics of rule of law enforcement: domestic contestation and institutional accountability II

Abstract

This panel brings together empirical research on how EU-level enforcement instruments are activated, contested and unevenly implemented across member states. The panel thus sheds light on the political and institutional factors enabling the use of the RoL enforcement tools, how these mechanisms are framed vis-à-vis public audiences, and the emergence of support or contestation at the national institutional level (i.e., by political parties and in parliaments) towards such instruments. The papers investigate, respectively: how the protection of final beneficiaries is interpreted and operationalised under the RoL Conditionality Regulation; how institutional, administrative and political conditions enable or constrain EPPO investigatory activity; how opposition parties in Poland and Hungary strategically frame EU enforcement in the context of elections; how different actors publicly demand escalations of EU’s RoL enforcement in cases of backsliding; and how parliamentary debates across various member states (both backsliding and non-backsliding) allocate attention to EU enforcement actions. Methodologically, the contributions combine qualitative and quantitative approaches, including case studies, discourse analysis, and Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA); therefore, capturing the complexity of operationalising the multi-level dynamics of RoL enforcement in the EU.

Title	Details
Does network participation matter for citizens’ assessment of rule of law violations? Theoretical approaches and a survey experiment in a European setting	View Paper Details
Explaining the Emergence of Parliamentary Accountability in EU Rule of Law Enforcement	View Paper Details
From Collateral Damage to Protective Shield: Safeguarding Final Beneficiaries of EU Funding in Rule of Law Spending Conditionality Processes	View Paper Details
When Does the EPPO Investigate EU Fraud? Explaining the Enforcement Gap in Supranational Prosecution	View Paper Details
Framing the Freeze: Civic Platform and Tisza Party Discourses/Strategies on the Rule of Law Conditionality	View Paper Details
Mapping decision opportunities: Accountability demands in EU rule of law enforcement	View Paper Details
Who cares? Party political debates on democratic backsliding and EU counter-actions in six EU member states.	View Paper Details