Mission Impossible? Can the EU Respond to the Democracy and Rule of Law Crisis?

The emerging democracy and rule of law backsliding in various Member States of the European Union (EU) has called the EU as ‘order’ into question. How does the EU respond to these fundamental challenges that are due to undermine its political order? Rather than analysing empirically how the EU responds, this paper seeks to add a theoretical contribution by enquiring into how we can conceptualize EU actor responses to the unfolding crisis. Through a conceptual approach linking normative and EU integration theories and their projection of actor-centred crisis-response, we seek to show how we can best understand actor responses in times of EU crisis. Relying on these theoretical insights, the paper will not only be able to add to ongoing debates about if and how the EU (i.e. its institutional actors) is able to respond to crises that threaten its fundamental values and integrative order, but also if the respective responses meet normative expectations of how actors within the EU should respond.