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Rights Protection by the EU

All EU governments have promised to protect human rights, democracy and the rule of law. No country can join the EU until it has shown that it has laws, policies and institutions in place to uphold these fundamental values, such as a free media and an independent judiciary. Once a country is inside the EU, however, the Union has limited powers to make sure the government sticks to these promises. This topic covers the work we do to persuade the EU to create stronger powers to protect its fundamental values, and the work we do to persuade the EU to use the powers it already has to prevent governments inside the Union from abusing human rights.

Read our series of explainers on how fundamental rights are protected in the EU

Read our policy paper on how the European Parliament could better protect civil liberties

Read our policy paper on how the Council of the EU could better protect the rule of law

Read our policy paper on how the EU can require governments to protect the rule of law if they want EU funding

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Rights Protection by the EU articles