Abstract

The contribution offers a reflection on the constitutional implications of the use of conditionality to protect the rule of law in the European Union, highlighting its ambiguities, but at the same time emphasizing its potential for the constitutional development of the EU. In particular, the contribution intends to grasp the nature of the particular conditionality regime introduced by Regulation 2020/2092, which seems to distinguish itself from the so-called «reward» conditionality regimes, but instead seems to be characterized on the one hand by a punitive function and for the other than a defensive function, to protect fundamental values, almost as if it were an instrument comparable to those that implement models of militant democracy.