About

Helsinki Rule of Law Forum is a research community studying the rule of law in the European Union. Funded by the Government of Finland, its research is organized by members of the Faculty of Law of the University of Helsinki. A broad network of experts from academia and European institutions support its research initiatives and participate in the work of the research community.

The research agenda of Helsinki Rule of Law Forum includes, in particular, the rule of law as a legal concept of EU law, the enforcement of EU law against Member States, the promotion of the rule of law in the EU legal order, as well as the rule of law in the external relations of the EU.

Helsinki Rule of Law Forum produces commissioned research for the use of the Government of Finland within the Research Project "The Rule of Law, Finland, and the European Union". Additionally, it will organize seminars on the topic of rule of law in the EU in October 2021 and January 2022. On the basis of the ongoing research, the research community is currently preparing an edited volume with the working title “The Anatomy of Rule of Law: Conceptualizing its Foundations and Protection in the European Union”.

The research project will run from February 2021 to April 2022. Its activities include workshops, expert seminars at the premises of the University of Helsinki and online, an edited volume to be published in English with an international publisher, other publications, and a final report in Finnish submitted by the research group members to the Government of Finland in spring 2022.

On 18 March 2022, we published a Declaration on the Rule of Law in the European Union.

To read it in full, please click here.