Friday, January 19, 2018

Rule of Law in the E.U.: Implications for the Federal System

For a federal system to be viable over the long term, a core of basic values must be shared even though one of the main functions of federalism as a system of government is the ability to accommodate diversity from state to state. In the case of the E.U. and the U.S., the rule of law, democracy, and separation of powers as concerns the independence of judiciaries at the state and federal levels are non-negotiable; hence as these are compromised or thwarted outright, the viability of E Pluribus Unum can be expected to unravel. As 2017 came to an end, the E.U. found itself largely impotent as some of the eastern states violated the basic principles of rule of law and an independent judiciary with impunity. If the impunity was indeed real, the federal system itself was in desperate need of repair.