Abstract
‘What is going on with the rule of law at the EU level?’ is the question posed by this article. The rule of law is a founding EU principle according to Article 2 TEU and binds all actors that partake in European integration. Yet, compliance to the rule of law by the Member States has been recently questioned. Phenomena of non-compliance involve systemic threats to the rule of law and more generally, EU values. Such threats and the EU sanctions available to counter them have set the backdrop to a rule of law ‘deficit’ discourse. Conversely, there is less discussion about noncompliance of the EU Institutions to the rule of law and how it triggers reaction at the national level. Instead, legal scholarship has isolated recurrent EU intrinsic deficiencies which threaten the rule of law in the EU, namely the (occasional) EU legislative and judicial arbitrariness. Taking stock of the above factors, this contribution will provide an overview of the current state of play with regard to the protection of the rule of law at both the EU and the national level. It will highlight its deficiencies from different points of the spectrum and critique the practical significance of the monitoring instruments available for its protection.