“The problem of democratic backsliding in European politics is a problem which has now some history. Should autocrats be expelled from the European Union? The question of what to do about autocratic Member States is not inevitably constrained by the idea that Member States’ membership is entirely in their own hands, and that that is a political choice not a legal and political necessity.”
In this video Tom Theuns, Assistant Professor of Political Theory and European Politics in the Institute for Political Sciences at Leiden University, proposes a solution to deadlock in invoking Article 7 against Hungary or Poland. He explains his position that Article 7 itself, insofar as it disenfranchises the Member State in question while holding it to the rules of European law, goes against the democratic values of the European Union, and proposes instead a radical new solution: pro-democracy Member States collectively invoking Article 50 to create a new European Union which excludes anti-democratic Member States altogether.
TEPSA Explainers are short videos elaborating on key issues in European affairs according to the expertise of the contributor.