Laurent Pech | Lightnews

Quinta Jurecic @qjurecic.bsky.social · 17h

Over the last 10 months, the federal government has cracked down on political expression with a persistence and viciousness reminiscent of some of the darkest periods of U.S. history. Welcome to the Third Red Scare.

The First Amendment Won’t Go Quietly

Welcome to the third Red Scare.

www.theatlantic.com

Jen Rubin @jenrubin.bsky.social · 17h

When not whimpering over costumed protestors or a sandwich assailant, they regularly incur the ire of courts for their abusive and cruel conduct as well as dishonest testimony. Their incompetence is roundly mocked. Trump is sending the worst of the worst.
open.substack.com/pub/contrari...

Lawless Enforcement

The feds are out of control

open.substack.com

Jakub Jaraczewski @jakubjaraczewski.bsky.social · 22h

🇪🇺⚖️🇵🇱 I keep thinking about this story, how the rule of law gladiator @profpech.bsky.social pushed back against the composition of a rule of law seminar organised by AFCO and, in the end, in a very Laurent Pech fashion, withdrew entirely. What kind of "bad people" do we want to talk to? 1/

Alberto Alemanno @alemanno.bsky.social · 5d

How is the EU Parliament selecting experts to its public hearings and seminars?

AFCO first disinvited me from a public hearing on EU electoral law, and then created the conditions for @profpech.bsky.social to step back seminar thegoodlobby.eu/how-the-eu-p...

How the EU Parliament Selects its Experts? | The Good Lobby

Recent incidents involving the EU Parliament's AFCO Committee have raised questions about the instrumentalisation of parliamentary procedures.

thegoodlobby.eu

Mariarosaria Guglielmi @mguglielmi.bsky.social · 1d

In "A decade of rule of law toolbox: Assessment and prognosis", @profpech.bsky.social shares his views on the current situation and future of EU rule of law instruments.
This article expands his thoughts as presented in #MEDEL 40th anniversary conference🇮🇹🇬🇧
www.questionegiustizia.it/articolo/die...

Dieci anni di strumenti a difesa dello lo Stato di diritto: valutazione e prospettive future

Dieci anni di strumenti a difesa dello lo Stato di diritto: valutazione e prospettive future Rivista Questione Giustizia di Magistratura Democratica.

www.questionegiustizia.it

Alberto Alemanno @alemanno.bsky.social · 1d

“The Omnibus fails to meet the constitutional standards the EU’s own legal order demands”.

That’s the conclusion reached by legal opinion endorsed by 100+ academics warning the Parliament about this dangerous precedent.

Read the opinion 👇 #Omnibus #CSRD #CSDDD

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Alberto Alemanno @alemanno.bsky.social · 4d

As predicted, the EU is ready to dismantle its Digital Rulebook as it did with the Green Deal.

It does so upon US administration’s demand and under Big Tech pressure.

It’s a self-inflicted political decision putting the EU on a deregulatory turn on.ft.com/47vqFOl

EU weighs pausing parts of landmark AI act in face of US and Big Tech pressure

Brussels is set to water down part of its strict digital rule book as it aims to make bloc more competitive

on.ft.com

Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 4d

The @ec.europa.eu's annual #ruleoflaw report "approach creates the impression of progress where, in fact, there is little or none."

Spot-on and excellent study overall. Highly recommended. At this stage, I would argue that this tool has brought more problems than benefits.

Liberties.EU @liberties.eu · 7d

🇪🇺 Repetition Without Reform: How the EU’s Rule of Law Cycle Risks Losing Credibility

The EU Commission’s Rule of Law Report is now in its 6th year — a cornerstone of democratic oversight.

But Liberties’ Gap Analysis 2025 paints a far less optimistic picture.

1/🧵

Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 5d

BREAKING: Men who can’t even keep the government open write letter to a third man, whose high court regularly publishes anonymous orders, to complain about anonymous criticism from lower court judges.

Lawmakers Seek
Investigation of Judges Who Criticized Supreme Court
The Republican leaders of the Senate and House Judiciary Committees told Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. that anonymous judges who responded to a Times questionnaire may have violated ethics rules.

Alberto Alemanno @alemanno.bsky.social · 5d

How is the EU Parliament selecting experts to its public hearings and seminars?

AFCO first disinvited me from a public hearing on EU electoral law, and then created the conditions for @profpech.bsky.social to step back seminar thegoodlobby.eu/how-the-eu-p...

How the EU Parliament Selects its Experts? | The Good Lobby

Recent incidents involving the EU Parliament's AFCO Committee have raised questions about the instrumentalisation of parliamentary procedures.

thegoodlobby.eu

Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 5d

👏

Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 5d

Indeed and this was one of the key suggestions we made in the 2019 study previously mentioned.

The Good Lobby @thegoodlobby.bsky.social · 5d

1/3🧵
🚨 How the EU Parliament Selects its Experts?

Recent developments within the European Parliament's Committee on Constitutional Affairs (AFCO) have raised serious questions about how expert contributions are managed and who influences them.

🔗 Read more: thegoodlobby.eu/how-the-eu-p...

Sophie in't Veld @sophieintveld.bsky.social · 5d

The formula originally proposed by @europarl.europa.eu was much more effective, ao as the reporting panel would have been independent. But of course the EU Commission refuses that, as it is kept on a leash by the government leaders

Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 5d

See also this expert study from 2019 advising against reinventing the rule of law wheel and getting distracted from using existing *enforcement* tools by wasting time setting up a new, shinny and bound to become toothless monitoring tool

reconnect-europe.eu/wp-content/u...

reconnect-europe.eu

Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 5d

Some of us predicted this outcome from the very launch of this EU rule of law reporting tool. See eg @rdanielkelemen.bsky.social writing in 2020 eulawlive.com/op-ed-you-ca...

Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 6d

Thank you Nik.

Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 6d

While the @consilium.europa.eu’s deriliction of duties continues, Orban has further strengthened his control of country’s media ecosystem ahead of next elections.

Reminder: Orban’s Hungary now an electoral autocracy whose last free and fair elections took place in 2010…

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 6d

Shock as Orbán allies buy Hungary’s most-read newspaper

Blikk, a tabloid with about 3 million online monthly readers, bought by pro-Orbán media group Indamedia Journalists at Hungary’s most-read newspaper have expressed shock after a media group seen as close to nationalist prime minister Viktor Orbán’s party, Fidesz, bought the tabloid from its previous Swiss owners. The purchase, which comes as Hungary gears up for crucial elections next year in which Orbán faces an unprecedented opposition challenge, is widely seen as another attempt to increase government influence on the media. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

Szabolcs Panyi @szabolcspanyi.bsky.social · 6d

💰Donald Trump and his allies have long praised Orbán’s Hungary even as it plunges in press freedom rankings. In 2022, Orbán told a conference of US conservatives, CPAC, that the path to power required “having their own media”. @theguardian.com

Shock as Orbán allies take ownership of Hungary’s most-read newspaper

Blikk, a tabloid with about 3 million online monthly readers, bought by pro-Orbán media group Indamedia

www.theguardian.com

Katalin Halmai @eublogo.bsky.social · 6d

‼️The EP's patience has run out. In a resolution to be adopted today, the LIBE Committee states that the EU Council (=Member States) itself is violating the rule of law by delaying further action against #Hungary under Article 7 procedure 🧵

The Guardian @theguardian.com · 6d

Shock as Orbán allies buy Hungary’s most-read newspaper

Blikk, a tabloid with about 3 million online monthly readers, bought by pro-Orbán media group Indamedia Journalists at Hungary’s most-read newspaper have expressed shock after a media group seen as close to nationalist prime minister Viktor Orbán’s party, Fidesz, bought the tabloid from its previous Swiss owners. The purchase, which comes as Hungary gears up for crucial elections next year in which Orbán faces an unprecedented opposition challenge, is widely seen as another attempt to increase government influence on the media. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

Adelina Marini @adelinamarini.bsky.social · 6d

A stark example of the spill-over effects of #illiberalism

Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 8d

Conference participation question: Would you agree to attend a symposium on the rule of law in an expert capacity in a situation where the conference organisers have also sought to invite fake judges and pseudo experts in the name of “dialogue”, “political balance” and/or “diversity of views”?

Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 6d

Thank you Iana. As I have often said in the past, those actively undermining the rule of law would not be as successful if it wasn’t for the many enablers and opportunists they find along the way.

Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 6d

Merci David.

Prof David Farrell, UCD @davidfarrell-ucd.bsky.social · 6d

Good on you taking a stand, @profpech.bsky.social

Irish Legal News @irishlegal.com · 6d

A senior Irish legal academic has withdrawn from a major EU symposium on the rule of law after organisers proposed to platform “fake judges and pseudo experts” linked to Poland’s rule of law crisis.

Irish academic withdraws from rule of law summit over ‘fake judges’

A senior Irish legal academic has withdrawn from a major EU symposium on the rule of law after organisers proposed to platform “fake judges and pseudo experts” linked to Poland’s rule of law crisis.

www.irishlegal.com

Irish Legal News @irishlegal.com · 6d

A senior Irish legal academic has withdrawn from a major EU symposium on the rule of law after organisers proposed to platform “fake judges and pseudo experts” linked to Poland’s rule of law crisis.

Irish academic withdraws from rule of law summit over ‘fake judges’

A senior Irish legal academic has withdrawn from a major EU symposium on the rule of law after organisers proposed to platform “fake judges and pseudo experts” linked to Poland’s rule of law crisis.

www.irishlegal.com

Liberties.EU @liberties.eu · 7d

🇪🇺 Repetition Without Reform: How the EU’s Rule of Law Cycle Risks Losing Credibility

The EU Commission’s Rule of Law Report is now in its 6th year — a cornerstone of democratic oversight.

But Liberties’ Gap Analysis 2025 paints a far less optimistic picture.

1/🧵

Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 7d

As the European Court of Human Rights rightly put it in Grzęda v. Poland, "the Convention does not prevent States from taking legitimate and necessary decisions to reform the judiciary ... However, any reform of the judicial system should not result in undermining the independence of the judiciary"

Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 7d

Authoritarian actors also often speak of the need for "judicial reforms" to disguise their agenda to dismantle judicial independence and create a party-state

Paul Bernal @paulbernal.bsky.social · 7d

Funny how when people talk about ‘reforming’ the ECHR, they always mean removing rights from people they don’t like.

Paul Bernal @paulbernal.bsky.social · 7d

Funny how when people talk about ‘reforming’ the ECHR, they always mean removing rights from people they don’t like.

Andrew Cutting @andrewcutting.coe.int · 7d

Happy Birthday to the European Convention on Human Rights, which has helped to protect #OurRightsAndFreedoms for 75 years.

Here are more than 200 examples, from across the continent👇

🔗 www.coe.int/ECHR

There are thousands more.

#ECHR #ECHR75 @coe.int @echr.coe.int

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