The problem of peer review in militant democracy

Sadurski is the most important interpreter of Art 7 of the Treaty of European Union-the clause that allows for the suspension of membership rights of states that are in violation of fundamental European values. This Article has often been criticized because it involves other Member State governments in deciding whether sanctions are justified. Looked more abstractly, the underlying problem would appear to be the Article’s reliance on something like peer review: liberal democratic governments judging whether another government is still sufficiently similar to them. The chapter examines peer review from a normative and legal point of view, not least because it also plays an important role in national forms of militant democracy. This chapter’s argument is that the introduction of what the Venice Commission calls a ‘political filter’ is justified, but there must also be means of getting through the filter in extreme circumstances.