The Rule of Law Principle: the EU Concept vs. National Legal Identity

Kolaković-Bojović, Milica (2018) The Rule of Law Principle: the EU Concept vs. National Legal Identity. In: Naučni skup sa međunarodnim učešćem Univerzalno i osobeno u pravu. Univerzitet u Kosovskoj Mitrovici, Pravni fakultet, Kosovska Mitrovica, pp. 137-159. ISBN 978-86-6083-053-3

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Abstract

There is no doubt that the rule of law principle has been recognized as a milestone of modern democratic societies all around the world. The history and evolution of this concept shows that it has passed through significant changes in its it substance and constitutive elements, but also when it comes to differences in its definition in law and political theory. However, these differences seem to be more visible in last decades, due to parallel evolution of the rule of law as a universal value proclaimed by most important international legal and human rights instruments and its developing recognition in numerous national legal orders. The unification processes coming with EU enlargement put a new light on the issue of relationship between international, more precisely, EU concept of the rule law on one side, and variety of concepts that exist in the Member States and candidate countries. While for the first group of states this difference seems to be important from the angle of keeping achieved level of EU values, candidate countries have to pass multilevel crosscheck by EU authorities in order to get confirmation that their normative and institutional framework, but also their functioning in practice provides sufficient guaranties recognized as a EU rule of law constitutive elements. However, complexity of this process is significantly increased due to differences in understanding the rule of law concept among various states with different legal identities, but also still vague definition arising from EU attempts to standardise it.

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