Cohort: POLS 38° 
Topic of the thesis: The Backsliding of Fundamental Values in the EU: the Entanglement between Foundations of Liberalism and Democratic Defence.

Abstract: Hungary and Poland have made it clear that a Member State can maintain its membership in the European Union (EU) while breaching the core values of the EU itself, and that the EU is not able to defend those values. I intend to analyze the causes of the current situation, following two paths: the origin of the democratic backsliding in East-Central Europe (ECE) and the inability of the EU to stop offending Member States. There is a common point in those two processes: the predominance of economic over political liberalism, both in the transition of ECE countries towards the EU and in the EU's restrictive interpretation of Rule of Law as a technique and not as a set of values. The purpose of my research is to bring the dialectic between political and economic liberalism back into the present day, in order to investigate whether (1) the EU can change its approach towards Hungary and Poland, and (2) the EU can set aside its legalist and technical line of action and go into the substance of the value system.

Research interests: Democratic Backsliding in the EU; Liberalism and Democracy; Migration; EU Enlargement Eastwards; Neoliberalism; Rule of Law Defense.

Graduated from: Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna

Degrees obtained: Bachelor's degree in International Relations and Diplomatic Affairs - Master's degree in International Relations and Diplomatic Affairs

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