Almudena Del Castillo, research assistant of the project led by Dr. Sanz on the crisis of the rule of law in the EU, has conducted a pre-doctoral research stay at CEU Democracy Institute research center, specifically in the research group “Rule of Law Clinic”, whose current director is Barbara Grabowska, member of the research team led by Susana Sanz.
CEU Democracy Institute is an institution belonging to the Central European University whose main mission is to enable the renewal and strengthening of democratic and open societies through world-class research, collaboration between academic and professional disciplines, teaching and learning through the free exchange of ideas, and public engagement at local, regional and global levels.
The acronym “CEU” refers to the English name of “Central European University” an institution that, after being in the spotlight of Viktor Orbán’s illiberal government, was forced to move a significant part of its activities (including all its teaching activities) to its center in Vienna.
In this context, the “Rule of Law Clinic” is a research group whose aim is to give a voice to the rule of law in Europe before the highest courts. In addition to providing third-party interventions, it aims to play a key role in providing direct assistance to practitioners and academics. From August 2023 until July 2026, the Clinic develops its work by supporting practical Rule of Law work across Europe addressing the issues of the rollback of the Rule of Law, the weakening of checks and balances and the abuse of power.
The Clinic also provides public support to rule of law practitioners and facilitates scholarships to enhance expertise on pressing rule of law issues and to support judges, academics and practitioners who wish to specialize in this topic through pro-bono initiatives aimed at holding power accountable in Europe.
Almudena Del Castillo, who has been a research assistant since November 2022 and is developing her doctoral thesis project on the treatment and problems associated with judicial independence through a comparative analysis of the case law of the CJEU and the ECtHR on cases in which there is interference by the executive branch (either through irregular appointments of members of the judiciary or through disciplinary measures intended to serve as coercive measures against judges) in the functioning of the judiciary, has carried out his research stay at this research center, where she has been able to exchange impressions and obtain feedback from leading academics and experts in the field such as Dimitry Kochenov, Barbara Grabowska, Elena Basheska or Pétra Bard, among others.
The fact of having been able to spend 3 months in Hungary, one of the EU countries that, together with Poland, has experienced a more pronounced decline of its rule of law since Orbán entered the executive, together with the opportunity to have developed her stay in a center that has been subject to continuous repressions by the executive and that were condemned by the European Union as violations of academic freedom, has allowed the doctoral student to become aware of the delicate situation that the country has experienced, as well as the dangerous and extreme consequences of the existence of an executive power whose actions are gradually blurring the limits of the division of powers.
During her research stay, Almudena has been able to participate in various activities that have contributed to her training and to deepen her thesis topic, acquiring first-hand the vision of legal operators on the decline of the rule of law in Hungary and, more specifically, on the situation of the Hungarian judiciary.
Among the various training activities she has been able to witness there was the visit of Adam Bodnar, current Minister of Justice of Poland, to the host research center, where he gave a lecture on the steps being taken by the new Polish government of Donald Tusk in its mission to restore the rule of law in the country, as well as the main challenges and obstacles it is having to face.
One of the curiosities that the doctoral student highlights from her stay is the possibility of having been able to witness the peculiar political situation in the country, marked by the emergence of Péter Magyar, a new opponent of the Orbán government who, curiously, had been a member of the Fidesz (Orbán’s political party) for 20 years and participated in the select intimate group of the Hungarian Prime Minister.
Overlapping with the elections to the European Parliament on June 9, 2024, Almudena was able to witness the municipal elections in which the citizens of the Hungarian capital were to elect the members of their city council. The doctoral student was able to verify that, although Péter Magyar seems to be emerging with great popularity in the Hungarian electoral scene as the main opponent of Orbán, there are really few citizens who trust him, precisely because he belonged for many years to the same Orbán’s leadership.
On the other hand, the doctoral student was able to visit other research centers such as the HUN-REN Center for Social Sciences, the only publicly funded research network in Hungary, which carries out research in the areas of political science, sociology, minority studies and legal studies. Fruzsina Orosz, also a member of the research team led by Dr. Sanz, is a researcher at this center. The doctoral student was able to visit and meet her team, as well as participate in training activities organized by the researcher, including conferences, courses and seminars.
The doctoral candidate’s stay at the CEU Democracy Institute in Budapest has been a great opportunity to strengthen her thesis project by sharing working days with some of the most avid and active researchers in the field of rule of law, as well as to create synergies and strengthen existing ones with the researcher and current director of the Rule of Law Clinic, Barbara Grabowska.
The choice of CEU Democracy Institute by the doctoral candidate and its director was made with the clear purpose of facilitating the possibilities of training, specialization, and connections with many of the top scholars whose area of expertise is the study of the principle of judicial independence and the problems it raises. A purpose that, it must be said with satisfaction, has been fulfilled.
