The EU's main disciplinary tool, Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union, proved ineffective because it requires the unanimous consent of all other member states to impose sanctions. Hungary and Poland protected each other for years, making sanctions impossible. A major turning point came when the EU created three financial conditionality mechanisms: the Rule-of-Law Conditionality Regulation, the Recovery and Resilience Fund, and the Common Provisions Regulation. These tools allow the EU to freeze funds when a member state violates rule-of-law standards. According to Scheppele, these mechanisms froze €137 billion for Poland and €36 billion for Hungary—pressures that contributed to Poland's democratic opening in 2023 and helped fuel a new political challenge to Orbán. However, she has also warned that political bargaining undermines these tools, noting that in late 2023, the European Commission released €10.2 billion to Hungary for geopolitical reasons despite ongoing rule-of-law violations.
Perhaps Scheppele's most hopeful contribution in recent years is her emphasis on transnational law as a tool for democratic restoration. In her 2024 Annual Review article and in various lectures, she has highlighted the primary role that transnational courts play in transforming individual rights into constitutional structures that safeguard democratic institutions. From judicial independence to presidential term limits, transnational courts are reshaping the legal landscape in the fight against autocratic legalism. autocratic legalism kim lane scheppele upd