The Impact of the Erosion of the Rule of Law in EU Competition Law: A Market Perspective of the Principle
(2025) HARN63 20251Department of Business Law
- Abstract
- The rule of law is one of the founding principles that has accompanied the birth and development of the EU and is considered a shared value among the Member States. However, it is currently facing implementation challenges at national level, and this increasing crisis of the principle in some Member States has affected not only the fundamental rights recognised at EU level, even resulting in the backsliding of democracy, but it has started to affect the substantive norms of the Union, affecting the implementation of the rules, among which the competition framework. This thesis aims at understanding the impact of the erosion of the rule of law in the field of competition law. A working competition protects the Single market and the economic... (More)
- The rule of law is one of the founding principles that has accompanied the birth and development of the EU and is considered a shared value among the Member States. However, it is currently facing implementation challenges at national level, and this increasing crisis of the principle in some Member States has affected not only the fundamental rights recognised at EU level, even resulting in the backsliding of democracy, but it has started to affect the substantive norms of the Union, affecting the implementation of the rules, among which the competition framework. This thesis aims at understanding the impact of the erosion of the rule of law in the field of competition law. A working competition protects the Single market and the economic freedom of the individuals, therefore competition rules need to be implemented while observing the rule of law. For this purpose, the study will first look at the meaning of the rule of law and second at the development of competition law, both in the context of the EU. Having drawn such picture, the research will delve into the interaction between the two topics and finally describe whether the erosion of the principle has an impact on the application of competition rules. This thesis finds that since the rule of law, as a founding value, has permeated the whole legal framework of the Union, the same can be affirmed for competition rules. An erosion of the rule of law is displayed in different ways, including judicial capture, which affects the possibility to independently review decisions of the NCAs. However, this thesis will take into account the recent developments in Poland to bring forward a guidance to revert back from the crisis of the founding principle. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9195266
- author
- Tayco, Carol Therese LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- HARN63 20251
- year
- 2025
- type
- H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
- subject
- keywords
- rule of law crisis, EU competition law, internal market, fundamental rights, judicial independence, ECN
- language
- English
- id
- 9195266
- date added to LUP
- 2025-06-10 15:02:37
- date last changed
- 2025-06-10 15:02:37
@misc{9195266,
abstract = {{The rule of law is one of the founding principles that has accompanied the birth and development of the EU and is considered a shared value among the Member States. However, it is currently facing implementation challenges at national level, and this increasing crisis of the principle in some Member States has affected not only the fundamental rights recognised at EU level, even resulting in the backsliding of democracy, but it has started to affect the substantive norms of the Union, affecting the implementation of the rules, among which the competition framework. This thesis aims at understanding the impact of the erosion of the rule of law in the field of competition law. A working competition protects the Single market and the economic freedom of the individuals, therefore competition rules need to be implemented while observing the rule of law. For this purpose, the study will first look at the meaning of the rule of law and second at the development of competition law, both in the context of the EU. Having drawn such picture, the research will delve into the interaction between the two topics and finally describe whether the erosion of the principle has an impact on the application of competition rules. This thesis finds that since the rule of law, as a founding value, has permeated the whole legal framework of the Union, the same can be affirmed for competition rules. An erosion of the rule of law is displayed in different ways, including judicial capture, which affects the possibility to independently review decisions of the NCAs. However, this thesis will take into account the recent developments in Poland to bring forward a guidance to revert back from the crisis of the founding principle.}},
author = {{Tayco, Carol Therese}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{The Impact of the Erosion of the Rule of Law in EU Competition Law: A Market Perspective of the Principle}},
year = {{2025}},
}