Professor Bárd’s research on ‘sustainable rule of law’ explores how rule of law decline and backsliding in the member states of the European Union is a European matter. Her research explores issues at the intersection of the rule of law, fundamental rights, their European enforcement mechanism, and EU criminal cooperation. She argues that the EU possesses an arsenal of tools to address the violation of values in a dissuasive manner, and that it is of existential importance for the EU to make a harmonized and consequential use of these tools.
Bárd states that “criminal cooperation is the field where the consequences of rule of law backsliding in the national setting for the whole EU shows first. Criminal law is by nature about limitations of rights, such as for example the right to liberty, the right to property, the right to vote, or the right to privacy. These rights limitations are only permissible under certain conditions. Should these conditions – such as trial by an independent judiciary – not apply, trust among Member States and national courts will be shaken and judges across the EU will fail to recognize criminal judgments of or surrender suspects to such states with dubious rule of law records.”
About Petra Bárd
Professor Bárd (Budapest, 1976) defended her habilitation in 2015 at the ELTE Faculty of Law. In her related monograph she addressed the concept of mutual trust and individual rights, with special focus on surrender procedures and prison conditions. She participated in several EU-funded research projects including the H2020 project RECONNECT on the Rule of Law and democracy; or STREAM on the European arrest warrant and value deficiencies.
Professor Bárd is the recipient of numerous awards and grants, such as the DAAD grant, which enabled her research at Humboldt University, Berlin during her doctorate studies in the academic year of 2004/2005. In 2017/2018, she received the ENGAGE Fellowship from CEPS and OSIFE, which takes a rule of law approach to the policy domains of rights, security and economics. In 2021/2022 she taught and researched at the EUI, Florence as a Fernand Braudel Senior Fellow. She is also the recipient of academic awards, such as the Rusztem Vámbéry II. Award for her outstanding achievements as a criminologist.