Laurent Pech 🇺🇦

Former Prosecutors and Human Rights Leaders Launch The Rule of Law Project ruleoflawproject.org/news/project...

if only there had been a way to predict this might happen based on nearly every midterm election cycle in modern american political history

Audicracy at work again… www.investmentmonitor.ai/features/ger...

Hungarian PM Péter Magyar: "I have just spoken by phone with the leaders of the Students List, who won the elections in Serbia, to congratulate them... I assured them of Hungary’s support. I was delighted to hear how much strength our victory in April had given them during this difficult struggle."

Of course a win for non-authoritarian leaders or movements does not automatically mean all problems are solved or that authoritarian forces can't come back in future. But it is worth maintaining hope and optimism, because if people succumb to nihilism and apathy then democracy cannot survive.

America today is a country where regulators won't allow private companies to air interviews of the opposition on TV, but declare that taxpayer funded propaganda is fine.

Happy to support this complaint by @thegoodlobby.wsocial.eu Just frustrating if not shameful we are having to repeatedly ask the Guardian of the Treaties to do its job

🇪🇺 Having endured my share of aggravating "not border checks" courtesy of DE/PL law enforcement, I wholeheartedly support this action by @alemanno.bsky.social and his team, with support from luminaries of EU law. Schengen is meaningless if you need to pass the "white/not white" test along the way.

John Roberts' friend and defender is quoted in the piece, saying they shouldn't be shaming Roberts for the wreckage and ruin he's brought to this country because of "civility." The bullies always cry "civility" when the victims push back in the slightest.

"President ‌Donald Trump's administration has prepared sanctions against the entire International Criminal Court and plans to announce them soon" www.reuters.com/world/trump-...

New Project: Higher Education and Democratic Resilience As autocratic populists try to subordinate critical thinking and research, independent universities are indispensable for scientific progress as well as themselves a strong defence of democracy. verfassungsblog.de/higher-educa...

Trump’s Minnesota Surge Threatened Democracy, Judge Warns www.nytimes.com/2026/09/17/u...

Illiterate and stupid in a single effort. The WaPo editorial board is on a roll, demonstrating that it understands its mission is to be the editorial fluffer for Donald Trump. In the process it demonstrates that it can't hire anyone who can construct a quasi-literate paragraph.

Why and how do aspiring autocrats attack universities? See here for some answers:

🇪🇺⚖️🇭🇺🇵🇱 The rule of law in SOTEU - just a couple of sentences, as with the rule of law repaired in Poland (not really) and restoration underway in Hungary (happening, but in a fashion that raises eyebrows), the rule of law crisis in EU fades into the background. Or does it? A few key takeaways:

President von der Leyen: "Europe will always lead when it comes to defending the rules-based system." Meanwhile, in the real world: euobserver.com/226421/the-i...

Reform Party might go to the European Court of Human Rights - the court it wants to leave To challenge retrospective legislation ("not the British way") - but retrospective legislation (loss of indefinite leave to remain) is the core of its immigration policy

The decline and corruption of the European Parliament’s AFCO committee (latest) @alemanno.bsky.social

❗Read the thread and the comment of @profpech.bsky.social Le Parlement (comité des Affaires Constitutionnelles) pense à Luca Pietro Vanoni comme expert pour l'affaire du parti d'extrême droite (ESN), celui-ci est membre du think tank MCC lié à Orbán... ↪ mcc.hu/en/person/lu...

"The weakening of checks and norms in the United States is putting pressure on the alliances and international rules the rest of the world relies on, while also giving governments cues to attack institutions at home" www.politico.eu/article/amer...

Here's a non-paywalled version of the reporting on Canada becoming a possible "associate member" of the EU. It suggests Canada is willing to agree free movement of people, which (if true) would mean that the EU would be willing to agree more internal market access. www.reuters.com/world/americ...

Latest from fake 🦘 (un)constitutional tribunal of 🇵🇱 They never fail to disappoint when it comes to demonstrating legal ignorance and lack of integrity 👏

🇵🇱⚖️🇪🇺 Polish rule of law latest: it's the 40th anniversary of the Constitutional Tribunal, so there are some fireworks this week to commemorate. First is yesterday's judgment, in which the Tribunal once again found that the CJEU has no business examining the Polish judiciary.

CJEU, foreign policy and defence New judgment: EU Court dismisses legal challenge by Hungary 🇭🇺 to EU defence funding for Ukraine 🇺🇦, on the grounds that the EU courts lack jurisdiction over some foreign policy and defence issues

Out Now: Research Handbook on European Constitutional Law Edited by Leonard F.M. Besselink, Nicola Lupo, and Mattias Wendel Learn more: www.e-elgar.com/shop/isbn/97... Read a free sample chapter online: doi.org/10.4337/9781...

With some delay, my op-Ed on the dramatic Saxony-Anhalt election. It is high time we focus our political struggle on strengthening democracy, rather than merely weakening the far right. To do this, we must show realism, resilience and restraint.

After committing a manifest misuse/abuse of powers by releasing eu funding under false pretences at a time where Orban was weaponising 🇭🇺 veto, VDL commission and some governments/EPP actors are seemingly seeking to sacrifice (again) the rule of law - & taxpayers money - to political considerations

‼️There is an EU rule-of-law case that seems to have been almost forgotten. It shouldn’t be. If the Court of Justice follows the Advocate General’s opinion, the consequences for Hungary’s access to EU funds could be significant. And there is a remarkable twist: HUN now has a different government.🧵

🔥 Hot off the press 🔥 Autocratic ‘playbooks’ are easy to copy and adopt. For the 🇩🇪-🇵🇱 magazine DIALOG I compiled some insights from #Hungary and #Poland. But in #Germany we shouldn’t feel too complacent either... ➡️ Link: dialogonline.net/2026/09/04/p...

Image what would have happened if it had been a group of grannies protesting genocide in Gaza…

For the EU #ruleoflaw aficionados, just obtained this (peculiar) 🇮🇹 statement in relation to the approval of the Council Conclusions on the evaluation of the Council's annual rule of law dialogue (a totally useless mechanism one may add) www.asktheeu.org/request/conc... @benedettalobina.bsky.social

An open letter defending Professor Orr's academic freedom to engage in extramural speech on heterodox party financing to be published any minute now.

"The AfD’s demand for political “neutrality” doesn’t unsettle the professor of public law in the slightest: under existing higher education law, he says, a university professor is “not merely entitled but obliged to raise his voice." verfassungsblog.de/facing-the-b...

EPP alone cannot close Art 7 proceedings against 🇭🇺 and it would be illegal for the Commission to “reimburse” the accumulated fine amount. Better approach: do your rule of law homework and promptly/fully comply with EU law, including CJEU rulings.

🇲🇹⚖️🇪🇺 In 2020, I got my first op-ed with @euobserver.com on the rule of law crisis in Malta and how accountability is almost impossible to happen in a country where everyone knows everyone. Now, as the Times of Malta aptly writes, the clock got turned back with Yorgen Fenech walking free.

Spot on by @profpech.bsky.social on the methodological (among many others) issues with the EU Commission's annual Rule of Law Reports for @verfassungsblog.de.

🇪🇺⚖️Laurent is right on many counts. The Rule of Law Report - a descriptive tool, despite what some in the Commission might try to tell you - remains underutilised. Monsieur Pech, in his unmistakeable fashion, pulls no punches. How can the EU make the report more relevant? Three suggestions: 1/

Samuel Alito is corrupt, accepting gifts from people with business before the court, and holding stocks directly impacted by cases he rules on. Those financial conflicts of interest and refusal to accept basic judicial ethics, on their own, warrant impeachment and removal. If the US had standards.

🇭🇺🇪🇺 Pretty safe to say that we won't be hearing any more from the "Democracy Interference Observatory" that MCC Brussels set up to "monitor Brussels-backed attempts to interfere in European democracy" after my organisation sued X over access to data ahead of the Hungarian elections.

My latest @verfassungsblog.de post is dedicated to the latest edition of the Commission’s #RuleofLaw Report. Key argument: This tool, launched in 2020, has become a defective and overrated “stock-taking exercise” doing more harm than good verfassungsblog.de/pangloss-in-... @ceudeminst.bsky.social