The Role of Competition Law in Defending Rule of Law Values in the EU

This chapter investigates how EU competition law, with its central constitutional role in the EU’s economic and legal order, its direct form of enforcement by the European Commission, its interconnectedness with Member States’ enforcement, and its intimate relationship with the rule of law and democracy, can defend the rule of law in the EU. I argue that backsliding in one Member State harms competition in the internal market. As such, it is a matter of EU law and policy and a responsibility of the European Commission.