Breaches of the Rule of Law in the EU: What Implications for the Principle of Mutual Trust in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice?

Reflecting some recent tendencies, including the emergence of nationalist and illiberal forces, and the ‘states of emergency’ linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, respect for the rule of law in the EU has been challenged. While Poland and Hungary have become emblematic of this phenomenon, signals of the so-called backsliding of the rule of law are also evident in other Member States. Such breaches of the rule of law in the EU inevitably call into question the existence of mutual trust among Member States and the overall functioning of the judicial area without internal borders. This chapter intends to highlight the relationship between mutual trust and rule of law violations in the EU in light of the evolutionary jurisprudence of the Court of Justice, taking the Court’s judgement in Case C-896/19 Repubblika as a provisional closure point. The aim is to verify whether mutual trust as a structural principle of EU law emerges strengthened or completely compromised under this ‘stress test’.