This book discusses the nature of the challenges that have confronted European democracies in recent years. In the past decade, the rule of law in Europe has been put under strain by both external and internal factors. The term “illiberal democracies” is sometimes used to describe the rise of a phenomenon in which the fundamental values of the European legal order, as enshrined in the European Convention of Human Rights and in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, are called into question. The preservation of the independence of the judiciary, of the freedom of expression and the protection of journalists are among the values under threat. But these challenges are also present within the older democracies in which emergency regimes have become more common. As the European Union’s sanctions regime shows, striking a balance between security and the rule of law, of which fundamental rights are an intrinsic part, is a constant challenge. 

Focusing onthe European courts’ responses to these threats, the book discusses how courts could provide the ultimate line of defense. The acid test of the rule of law might indeed be how it safeguards the judicial guarantees designed to protect core European values beyond the discretion of government.

Iulia Motoc is a Judge at the European Court of Human Rights and Professor of Law at the University of Bucharest, Romania. She has also served as a judge at the Constitutional Court of Romania an as the Vice-Chair of the UN Human Rights Committee, an UN Special Rapporteur and President of the UN Sub-Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. Motoc was member of Advisory Committee on the FrameworkConvention for the protection of National Minorities, Council of Europe and of the member of the Council of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights. She was guest professor in several universities in US and Europe.  Motoc holds two PhD in international law and philosophy from the University of Aix-Marseille and for the University of Bucharest as well as a Masters’ degree from the University Aix-Marseille. She published in the area of international law, European law and human rights.