One year into the COVID-19 pandemic, EU Member States have been among the hardest-hit countries in the world. Suffering from high mortality rates and successive waves of infection, states (re)introduced highly restrictive measures.

To evaluate how the pandemic response has affected the rule of law across the EU, Democracy Reporting International gathered assessments from 35 national experts, covering all 27 Member States.

This analysis is brought together in DRI’s new report "Extraordinary or extralegal responses? The rule of law and the COVID-19 crisis", which identifies five critical areas of concern across all EU Member States and provides recommendations on how to address them.

To mark the launch of our new report, we invite you to join the discussion of our findings and further perspectives with:

Joelle Grogan, Senior lecturer and legal academic at Middlesex University London and author of DRI’s new report
Álvaro de Elera, Member of European Commission Vice-President Věra Jourová’s Cabinet, responsible for the rule of law portfolio
Veronika Bílková, Member of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe

The event will be moderated by Paul Zoubkov, Manager Europe at Democracy Reporting International. This event is held as part of the re:constitution programme funded by Stiftung Mercator.