While rule of law breaches continue to increase in the EU, the existing instruments to combat these have proven not sufficient enough to curb democratic backsliding. To identify complementary approaches and recommend new courses of action, Maria Skóra, research associate at the Institut für Europäische Politik, evaluated the EU’s instruments to safeguard democracy and the rule of law in member states.

In our policy brief we provide a mapping of the EU's rule of law toolbox and explore its technical, legal and political implementation. Furthermore, we propose new ways on how to improve the implementation of the existing tools to make them more efficient and effective.