For more than a decade, the European Union has been re-examining the ways to safeguard Member State compliance  with the foundational values enshrined in Article 2 TEU, with special attention to the rule of law, judicial independence and the right to a fair trial.

The European Commission funded TRIIAL Project (1 Jan 2020 – 30 June 2022) aimed to address the needs of the legal community confronted with rule of law backsliding in many Member States of the European Union. In some States, (proposed) reforms of the systems of administration of justice gave rise to the litigation before European courts, whereas in others these developments have sparked debates about the need for reform and updating the existing arrangements with the view of ensuring the demands of the rule of law. These phenomena have led to the refinement and further development of existing standards of judicial independence, impartiality and accountability with a view to ensuring mutual trust among the Member States of the European Union. Both the European Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights have contributed to this process.

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