Protecting fundamental EU values: In search of a balanced approach

This article reflects on the increasingly contentious nature of EU fundamental values under Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union. It argues that a ‘double encroachment’ is taking place in this field. Under the convenient veneer of defending ‘conservative’ values, the governments of some EU member states have taken measures that undermine basic rights, checks and balances. But at the same time, EU institutions have increasingly embraced an expansive and progressive interpretation of EU fundamental values that restricts member states’ ability to pursue conservative policies on such matters as family, gender and education. A restrained approach is advocated to strike the correct balance between the EU’s necessary responsibility to protect the core dimensions of the rule of law and fundamental rights across the member states and those states’ legitimate desires to filter their interpretations through the specific lenses of their societies’ histories, values and democratic preferences. Some recommendations to that effect are put forward.