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Laurent Pech 🇺🇦

@profpech.bsky.social
6.4K followers 1.4K following 1.6K posts

Professor of Law, Dean of @ucdschooloflaw.bsky.social, Senior Research Fellow at the CEU Democracy Institute in Budapest, and co-director of @goodlobbyprofs.bsky.social. Usual disclaimers.

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Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
"President ‌Donald Trump's administration has prepared sanctions against the entire International Criminal Court and plans to announce them soon" www.reuters.com/world/trump-...
reuters.com
Trump administration prepares sanctions against International Criminal Court, sources say
President ‌Donald Trump's administration has prepared sanctions against the entire International Criminal Court and plans to announce them soon, two sources familiar with the matter said, a move that ...
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Verfassungsblog @verfassungsblog.de · 17/09/2026
New Project: Higher Education and Democratic Resilience As autocratic populists try to subordinate critical thinking and research, independent universities are indispensable for scientific progress as well as themselves a strong defence of democracy. verfassungsblog.de/higher-educa...
We have strated a new project: Higher Education and Democratic ResilienceHigher Education: As democratic backsliding accelerates globally, universities are increasingly facing political pressure and interference.
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Kim Lane Scheppele @kimlanelaw.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Trump’s Minnesota Surge Threatened Democracy, Judge Warns www.nytimes.com/2026/09/17/u...
nytimes.com
Trump’s Minnesota Surge Threatened Democracy, Judge Warns (Gift Article)
In a rare interview, Patrick Schiltz, who served as the federal court’s chief judge last winter, called the administration’s actions “a grave threat to the rule of law.”
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Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Illiterate and stupid in a single effort. The WaPo editorial board is on a roll, demonstrating that it understands its mission is to be the editorial fluffer for Donald Trump. In the process it demonstrates that it can't hire anyone who can construct a quasi-literate paragraph.
washingtonpost.com
Opinion | Canada’s great European misadventure
Donald Trump is for now. A Brussels bureaucrat is forever.
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Jan-Werner Mueller @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Why and how do aspiring autocrats attack universities? See here for some answers:
scholarsatrisk.org
Free to Think 2026 | Scholars at Risk
Free to Think 2026 is the 12th installment of an annual report by SAR’s Academic Freedom Monitoring Project, and analyzes 382 attacks on higher education communities around the world.
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Jakub Jaraczewski @jakubjaraczewski.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
🇪🇺⚖️🇭🇺🇵🇱 The rule of law in SOTEU - just a couple of sentences, as with the rule of law repaired in Poland (not really) and restoration underway in Hungary (happening, but in a fashion that raises eyebrows), the rule of law crisis in EU fades into the background. Or does it? A few key takeaways:
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Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
President von der Leyen: "Europe will always lead when it comes to defending the rules-based system." Meanwhile, in the real world: euobserver.com/226421/the-i...
euobserver.com
The ICC is in its worst crisis yet — and Europe’s double standards are a big part of the problem
A tribunal created for one conflict — while acts of aggression in the Middle East and Latin America go unanswered — serves the court’s critics their strongest argument on a silver platter: that intern...
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Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
President von der Leyen: "Thanks to our #RuleofLaw Reports, any issues are now detected early and addressed through dialogue." Meanwhile, in the real world: verfassungsblog.de/pangloss-in-...
verfassungsblog.de
Pangloss in Brussels
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Steve Peers @stevepeers.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Reform Party might go to the European Court of Human Rights - the court it wants to leave To challenge retrospective legislation ("not the British way") - but retrospective legislation (loss of indefinite leave to remain) is the core of its immigration policy
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Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
The decline and corruption of the European Parliament’s AFCO committee (latest) @alemanno.bsky.social
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Hana-fr @h-a-n-a.eurosky.social · 14/09/2026
❗Read the thread and the comment of @profpech.bsky.social Le Parlement (comité des Affaires Constitutionnelles) pense à Luca Pietro Vanoni comme expert pour l'affaire du parti d'extrême droite (ESN), celui-ci est membre du think tank MCC lié à Orbán... ↪ mcc.hu/en/person/lu...
mcc.hu
Luca Pietro Vanoni
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Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
"The weakening of checks and norms in the United States is putting pressure on the alliances and international rules the rest of the world relies on, while also giving governments cues to attack institutions at home" www.politico.eu/article/amer...
politico.eu
America’s democratic decline is becoming Europe’s problem, new report says
“Whatever happens in the U.S. has global ramifications,” says IDEA’s Kevin Casas-Zamora.
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Steve Peers @stevepeers.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Here's a non-paywalled version of the reporting on Canada becoming a possible "associate member" of the EU. It suggests Canada is willing to agree free movement of people, which (if true) would mean that the EU would be willing to agree more internal market access. www.reuters.com/world/americ...
reuters.com
Carney pushes idea of making Canada 'associate member' of EU, WSJ reports
The EU is open to the idea, the Journal reported.
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Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Latest from fake 🦘 (un)constitutional tribunal of 🇵🇱 They never fail to disappoint when it comes to demonstrating legal ignorance and lack of integrity 👏
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Jakub Jaraczewski @jakubjaraczewski.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
🇵🇱⚖️🇪🇺 Polish rule of law latest: it's the 40th anniversary of the Constitutional Tribunal, so there are some fireworks this week to commemorate. First is yesterday's judgment, in which the Tribunal once again found that the CJEU has no business examining the Polish judiciary.
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Steve Peers @stevepeers.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
CJEU, foreign policy and defence New judgment: EU Court dismisses legal challenge by Hungary 🇭🇺 to EU defence funding for Ukraine 🇺🇦, on the grounds that the EU courts lack jurisdiction over some foreign policy and defence issues
Press release summary of the judgment. Full text in the link.
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Edward Elgar Publishing @elgarpublishing.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Out Now: Research Handbook on European Constitutional Law Edited by Leonard F.M. Besselink, Nicola Lupo, and Mattias Wendel Learn more: www.e-elgar.com/shop/isbn/97... Read a free sample chapter online: doi.org/10.4337/9781...
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Cas Mudde @casmudde.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
With some delay, my op-Ed on the dramatic Saxony-Anhalt election. It is high time we focus our political struggle on strengthening democracy, rather than merely weakening the far right. To do this, we must show realism, resilience and restraint.
theguardian.com
The AfD’s win in Germany is a dark day for Europe. Time is running out to stop the far right | Cas Mudde
This party is among the most extreme in Europe. To protect our democracies, liberal parties must urgently change their tactics, says Cas Mudde, author of The Far Right Today
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Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
After committing a manifest misuse/abuse of powers by releasing eu funding under false pretences at a time where Orban was weaponising 🇭🇺 veto, VDL commission and some governments/EPP actors are seemingly seeking to sacrifice (again) the rule of law - & taxpayers money - to political considerations
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Katalin Halmai @eublogo.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
‼️There is an EU rule-of-law case that seems to have been almost forgotten. It shouldn’t be. If the Court of Justice follows the Advocate General’s opinion, the consequences for Hungary’s access to EU funds could be significant. And there is a remarkable twist: HUN now has a different government.🧵
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Maria Skóra @mariaskora.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
🔥 Hot off the press 🔥 Autocratic ‘playbooks’ are easy to copy and adopt. For the 🇩🇪-🇵🇱 magazine DIALOG I compiled some insights from #Hungary and #Poland. But in #Germany we shouldn’t feel too complacent either... ➡️ Link: dialogonline.net/2026/09/04/p...
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Cas Mudde @casmudde.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Image what would have happened if it had been a group of grannies protesting genocide in Gaza…
theguardian.com
Black-clad protesters in balaclavas block road at port of Dover in Kent
Port authorities say access roads ‘free flowing’ again after large group forces road closures in both directions
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The Empty City @davidallengreen.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Seems the difference between ‘protestors’ and ‘terrorists’ is that protestors wear balaclavas while terrorists hold placards.
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Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
For the EU #ruleoflaw aficionados, just obtained this (peculiar) 🇮🇹 statement in relation to the approval of the Council Conclusions on the evaluation of the Council's annual rule of law dialogue (a totally useless mechanism one may add) www.asktheeu.org/request/conc... @benedettalobina.bsky.social
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Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
"Some lawyers foresee a new boom in Russian litigation at the EU courts in Luxembourg, as Europe prepares to backlist hundreds or even thousands of new names." euobserver.com/235281/eu-pl...
euobserver.com
EU plan to blacklist hundreds more Russians risks new boom in litigation
Litigious Russians filed some 84 out of the 125 new sanctions cases before the EU's General Court in 2025, amid member states' plans to massively expand the Russia blacklist.
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Jan-Werner Mueller @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
An open letter defending Professor Orr's academic freedom to engage in extramural speech on heterodox party financing to be published any minute now.
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Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
"The AfD’s demand for political “neutrality” doesn’t unsettle the professor of public law in the slightest: under existing higher education law, he says, a university professor is “not merely entitled but obliged to raise his voice." verfassungsblog.de/facing-the-b...
verfassungsblog.de
Facing the Blue Wall
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Alberto Alemanno @alemanno.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
It’s happening! 11 member states just said what many have thought for years: unanimity in EU foreign policy isn’t caution, it’s paralysis. With Matthias Goldman we mapped out how to actually end the veto de jure condito verfassungsblog.de/towards-qual...
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Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
EPP alone cannot close Art 7 proceedings against 🇭🇺 and it would be illegal for the Commission to “reimburse” the accumulated fine amount. Better approach: do your rule of law homework and promptly/fully comply with EU law, including CJEU rulings.
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Jakub Jaraczewski @jakubjaraczewski.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
🇲🇹⚖️🇪🇺 In 2020, I got my first op-ed with @euobserver.com on the rule of law crisis in Malta and how accountability is almost impossible to happen in a country where everyone knows everyone. Now, as the Times of Malta aptly writes, the clock got turned back with Yorgen Fenech walking free.
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Pavlos Roufos @proufos.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Spot on by @profpech.bsky.social on the methodological (among many others) issues with the EU Commission's annual Rule of Law Reports for @verfassungsblog.de.
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Jakub Jaraczewski @jakubjaraczewski.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
🇪🇺⚖️Laurent is right on many counts. The Rule of Law Report - a descriptive tool, despite what some in the Commission might try to tell you - remains underutilised. Monsieur Pech, in his unmistakeable fashion, pulls no punches. How can the EU make the report more relevant? Three suggestions: 1/
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Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
"contemporary “legal right” is represented by scholars like Adrian Vermeule of Harvard, as well as by a number of “Oxford professors”, such as John Finnis and Richard Ekins (and politicians such as Nigel Farage and organizations such as the Judicial Power Project" verfassungsblog.de/david-dyzenh...
verfassungsblog.de
A Tribute to David Dyzenhaus and The War Against Law
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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Samuel Alito is corrupt, accepting gifts from people with business before the court, and holding stocks directly impacted by cases he rules on. Those financial conflicts of interest and refusal to accept basic judicial ethics, on their own, warrant impeachment and removal. If the US had standards.
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Nancy Gage @ngage.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Well this is a sobering read, that’s for damn sure. 👇🔦 #RuleofLaw #EU Seems like an awful lot of folks in the #Commission go to a great deal of bother & shy away from no expense to produce worse than your average perfunctory review of the member states‘ performance. 🎭 @profpech.bsky.social 🙏✍️👇
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Jakub Jaraczewski @jakubjaraczewski.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
🇭🇺🇪🇺 Pretty safe to say that we won't be hearing any more from the "Democracy Interference Observatory" that MCC Brussels set up to "monitor Brussels-backed attempts to interfere in European democracy" after my organisation sued X over access to data ahead of the Hungarian elections.
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Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
My latest @verfassungsblog.de post is dedicated to the latest edition of the Commission’s #RuleofLaw Report. Key argument: This tool, launched in 2020, has become a defective and overrated “stock-taking exercise” doing more harm than good verfassungsblog.de/pangloss-in-... @ceudeminst.bsky.social
verfassungsblog.de
Pangloss in Brussels
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Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
"Illiberal democracy" in the real world: "Well over €100bn in public funds, including billions of euros of EU money, is believed to have been siphoned off during the Orbán years." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
The Guardian view on the new Hungary: de-Orbánising at pace | Editorial
Editorial: As a Brussels deadline looms with over €10bn at stake, Péter Magyar’s first three months have been transformative in addressing a corrupt legacy
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Kim Lane Scheppele @kimlanelaw.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
The Trump administration is building the case for cracking down on the left by commissioning a study that contradicts everything else we know about political violence in the US, which comes overwhelmingly from the right. Here's the real science: www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/the...
journalofdemocracy.org
The Rise of Political Violence in the United States | Journal of Democracy
In a deeply polarized United States, ordinary people now consume and espouse once-radical ideas and are primed to commit violence.
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
In 2017 Sergey Brin protested at airports against Trump‘s Muslim ban. Now he is spending $100 million opposing tax hikes on billionaires, comparing it to communism, while his company enables Trump‘s mad King behavior.
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Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
"In the United States, free speech ... is not a sign of our democracy’s fragility. It is evidence of its strength. That strength is diminished when members of our society—citizens and noncitizens alike—must self-censor and “behave” or suffer the government’s retaliation."
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Alberto Alemanno @alemanno.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Whose Europe Is Draghi’s Rhine Group Building? My latest albertoalemanno.substack.com/p/whose-euro...
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Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Just last month, the @ec.europa.eu and many EU governments were willing to ignore all available evidence of democratic and rule of law regression in Serbia and advance country's membership bid... www.politico.eu/article/eu-m...
politico.eu
EU plan to advance Serbia’s membership bid fails to win over capitals
The EU executive wants to use progress on Serbia’s accession to keep it from disengaging with the bloc. Some governments aren’t convinced.
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Katalin Halmai @eublogo.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
👀 Hungary is about to establish a new Office for Asset Protection and Recovery. Parliament elected its first president today. She says Hungary could set an example for the world, as nowhere, she argues, have those responsible for a corrupt criminal system ever been fully held to account.
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Jakub Jaraczewski @jakubjaraczewski.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
One big reason I quit Twitter was that it's kinda not chic to provide content to a platform whom your workplace is fighting in a court.
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Christian Odendahl @codendahl.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
That makes EU fines look like small fry.
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Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
"Allegations that Cofnas was not qualified for his research role and would cause a “negative impact” by promoting racial pseudoscience were made to university leaders months before Arday died, the Guardian understands." www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Ghent professors challenged expertise of Jason Arday’s plagiarism accuser
Allegations Nathan Cofnas was unqualified for Ghent role and would cause ‘negative impact’ made to senior leaders months ago
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Victor Ray @victorerikray.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
I'll again note that the folks willing to sign a letter supporting a raging eugenicist (purportedly in defense of his academic freedom to be racist) aren't nearly as motivated when it comes to *actual* threats to academic freedom, like this.
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Tom Pepinsky @tompepinsky.com · 26/08/2026
The University of Ghent has Code of Ethics, which you can find here. Two of its components (screenshots below) seem to be fully decisive to me. You can complain that this is a bad Code of Ethics, but the plain text is clear as day. www.ugent.be/en/ghentuniv...
Everyone at Ghent University is expected to be familiar with and comply with all applicable
laws and regulations, policies and ethical values and norms that guide our work. Everyone at
Ghent University is individually responsible for their own actions and everyone at Ghent
University is collectively responsible for maintaining the ethical standards and complying with
all applicable laws, regulations and policies.
If the actions of the institution or everyone at Ghent University are not regulated by the Code
or by specific laws, regulations or policies, the values laid down in the Code will always
determine our actions.
No act that lacks integrity – an act that is contrary to the standards set out in the Code – will
be tolerated, even if the act is common within or outside Ghent University, or if some of the
objectives it achieves are dignified or honourable. The appearance of unethical behaviour can
also be harmful to the people of Ghent University, the institution and its activities.Everyone at Ghent University has the fundamental right to speak and in some cases, a duty
to speak and a duty of confidentiality.
Ghent University cherishes and defends the right to freedom of expression. Everyone at Ghent
University has the freedom to express their personal opinions. You speak in your own name
and make this clear as such. You take personal responsibility for what you say.
Official statements and positions that are related to Ghent University's policy may only be
shared by employees who are explicitly designated to do so.
Freedom of expression is not unlimited:
- You do not incite discrimination, hatred, violence or segregation against others;
- You do not spread ideas about racial superiority or hatred;
- You do not join groups or associations that promote discrimination or segregation;
- You abstain from any form of negationism
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Jan-Werner Mueller @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
A more general phenomenon: If we can’t control the thing, we’ll still show it’s ours by destroying it (cf. universities and plenty of other institutions).
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