Key Political and Legal Debates on Article 7 TEU in Times of Dissensus Over the Rule of Law

The goal of this chapter is to retrace the evolution of Article 7 TEU, focusing on the legal and political conflicts it has sparked over the past decade in the midst of a rule of law crisis and a growing dissensus over liberal democracy. The chapter is organised as follows: Sect. 2 reviews the origins of Article 7 TEU. Section 3 discusses the major legal and political disputes surrounding this procedure since 2010, and Sect. 4 looks at the ongoing political and legal debates about the procedure's impasse and potential “ways out”.