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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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Reposted by Laurent Pech 🇺🇦
Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
America today is a country where regulators won't allow private companies to air interviews of the opposition on TV, but declare that taxpayer funded propaganda is fine.
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Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
🙈
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Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Happy to support this complaint by @thegoodlobby.wsocial.eu Just frustrating if not shameful we are having to repeatedly ask the Guardian of the Treaties to do its job
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Reposted by Laurent Pech 🇺🇦
Jakub Jaraczewski @jakubjaraczewski.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
🇪🇺 Having endured my share of aggravating "not border checks" courtesy of DE/PL law enforcement, I wholeheartedly support this action by @alemanno.bsky.social and his team, with support from luminaries of EU law. Schengen is meaningless if you need to pass the "white/not white" test along the way.
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Reposted by Laurent Pech 🇺🇦
Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
John Roberts' friend and defender is quoted in the piece, saying they shouldn't be shaming Roberts for the wreckage and ruin he's brought to this country because of "civility." The bullies always cry "civility" when the victims push back in the slightest.
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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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Reposted by Laurent Pech 🇺🇦
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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Reposted by Laurent Pech 🇺🇦
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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Reposted by Laurent Pech 🇺🇦
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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Reposted by Laurent Pech 🇺🇦
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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Reposted by Laurent Pech 🇺🇦
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
VDL speech is pure gaslighting on the rule of law front. Also striking to see her acknowledge "years of backsliding" in 🇭🇺 after denying same until after Orban lost the elections... Of course, no mention was made of her decision to give Orban 10.2bn while backsliding was going on as we now know...
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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
"we have strengthened the link between funds and respect for the rule of law." Meanwhile, in the real world: verfassungsblog.de/limiting-com... Conclusion: VDL Commission not serious about the #ruleoflaw & is all about strong rhetoric coupled with spin/gaslighting to hide inaction/inconsistency
verfassungsblog.de
Limiting Commission Discretion in EU Funding Conditionality
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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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Reposted by Laurent Pech 🇺🇦
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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Reposted by Laurent Pech 🇺🇦
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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Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Is this the same EPP person who has been actively trying to normalise fake judges and anti-rule of law individuals?
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Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
mcc.hu/en/person/lu...
mcc.hu
Luca Pietro Vanoni
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Reposted by Laurent Pech 🇺🇦
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 · 14/09/2026
Interesting. So you don’t need any expertise in relevant areas to be appointed as an “expert” on this body, right?
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Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Never head of the "world jurist association" btw worldjurist.org Just useful idiots perhaps? Maybe you should send them a couple of links to most relevant CJEU and ECtHR rulings...
worldjurist.org
World Jurist Association – “A world ruled by law, not force” has been the World Jurist Association’s mission since its founding in 1963.
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Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Impressive lineup 🤡
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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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Reposted by Laurent Pech 🇺🇦
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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Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
You have to earn it first with 🥂
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Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Kudos Michal on the new book. Hope this will mean a fancy 🥂 reception in due course
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Reposted by Laurent Pech 🇺🇦
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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Reposted by Laurent Pech 🇺🇦
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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Reposted by Laurent Pech 🇺🇦
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
By the way, I can also confirm that in MEDEL et al case, the plaintiffs were pressured into dropping their annulment actions to no avail however. This is another case where at least in my view the VDL Commission deliberately disregarded CJEU rule of law case law for short term political gains
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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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Reposted by Laurent Pech 🇺🇦
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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Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Not surprised that after clear misuse of powers, and high likelihood to see CJEU agreeing with AG, EP is being pressured into dropping its action. would be scandalous with this eg showing again that without effective access to CJEU for private parties EU can get away with serious abuse of power
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Reposted by Laurent Pech 🇺🇦
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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Reposted by Laurent Pech 🇺🇦
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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Reposted by Laurent Pech 🇺🇦
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
"EU has so far imposed visa bans and asset freezes on some 3,000 mostly Russian individuals and entities ... vast majority are mid-ranking politicians, officials ... who do not have the means to sue the EU ... given that a sanctions case can cost up to €500,000 in EU lawyers' fees"
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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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Reposted by Laurent Pech 🇺🇦
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
👌
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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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Reposted by Laurent Pech 🇺🇦
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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Reposted by Laurent Pech 🇺🇦
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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Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
I could be wrong but I don’t think not a single rule of law tool was ever specifically activated by the EU in relation to Malta
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Reposted by Laurent Pech 🇺🇦
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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