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The judicial contribution to the dynamic process of European Integration was especially important, as the Court of Justice of the EU, through its creative and extensive interpretation of the Treaties, became an important catalyst for the integration process. The next phase of the European integration seems to be the 'integration through the rule of law', as the further development of this process must be based on a secure and solid ground, reaffirming the Union as a community of values. Given its importance for the confidence of citizens in the Union and the effective delivery of policies, the rule of law is of central relevance to the future of Europe. The main aim of this paper is to examine the progressive and influential role of the CJEU regarding the integration process, as a starting premise for determining its potential as an actor in the process of overcoming the following challenges.

The principle of mutual trust, whose fundamental importance is recognized by the CJEU, is not mentioned in the Treaties, but nonetheless, it plays an essential role for the EU integration process and has become a structural principle of the EU law. In addition to its role as a basis for a large set of EU rules in the areas such as the internal market and the area of freedom, security and justice, this principle is also closely related to the EU founding values including the rule of law. Having in mind that is not a “blind trust” but an assumption, it is applied through ensuring compliance with the Union law for which both the Member States and the European Commission share responsibility, inter alia, by means of the infringement procedure. Under Article 259 TFEU, Member States are also entitled to bring a direct action against another Member State for an alleged infringement of an obligation under the Treaties. However, it is extremely rare for a Member State to take action upon the Article 259 TFEU and its potential remains untapped till now. This contribution aims to answer why do Member States are inactive in terms of invoking the infringement procedure. It argues that infringement procedure initiated by a Member State against another Member State should not be perceived as a violation of the mutual trust between them but as a tool to uphold the mutual trust and to protect the Union’s founding values, including the rule of law.

Economic growth and poverty reduction are highly dependent on the well-functioning legal and judicial institutions. Experience in transition countries suggests that the legal transition and economic performance go hand in hand in advancing results. The transition from socialism to capitalism in the Republic of North Macedonia has required fundamental reforms of legal and judicial institutions. The paper analyses the experience of the country in the legal and judicial institutions transformation, a long-term process that still has active and ongoing reforms. Despite the adoption of the structural preconditions for judicial independence (legal framework, judicial councils, and academies), political intervention, corruption and influence in judicial decisions are common and legal uncertainty remains. The authors explore the effects that the legal and judicial institutions’ transformation has on Macedonian economic development by drawing data from official sources/reports. The conclusions suggest that creating a well-defined judiciary system with enforcement ability should be a priority for the executive branch of the Macedonian government to achieve improved economic performance and functional market economy.

Since the rule of law was introduced into the EU enlargement policy, its role within the conditionality policy has advanced gradually so that it has become the cornerstone of the accession process. This paper analyses the evolution of the rule of law promotion in the process of EU enlargement with a focus on the Western Balkans and strives to identify what the main challenges are in this regard and the main reasons why the EU has made the rule of law central to its new enlargement methodology. Drawing on the experience of the Europeanisation process of the CEE countries, the paper examines the different approaches in terms of the promotion of the rule of law within the Copenhagen political accession criteria. It finds that with regard to the accession process of the Western Balkans, the EU is no longer satisfied with ‘reforms on paper’ and strives to apply more active leverage. However, the internal challenges for the rule of law within the EU and the often ‘neglected’ fourth Copenhagen criterion – absorption capacity of the Union itself referring to its capability to include new members – also affect the process. Rule of law conditionality has been compromised not only by more focus on the box-ticking benchmark fulfilment exercise than on substance, but also by the lack of credibility on the side of the EU that has undermined the pre-accession conditionality. The most illustrative case in this regard is the accession process of North Macedonia that is analysed as a case study in order to identify the main challenges and shortcomings of the EU enlargement policy. The paper proposes that the rule of law promotion and the overall Europeanisation process must rest on a credible merit-based accession process that involves clear commitments on both sides – candidate countries but also the EU.