Ladies and gentlemen, The first President of the European Commission, Walter Hallstein, famously said that the European Union is a “community of law”[ 1 ] – an expression which was then picked up by the European Court of Justice in its judgments. The rule of law is one of the basic principles of our Union, and one we have to defend – especially at times when it is put at risk of being attacked.[ 2 ] This principle means that EU law is the cement that keeps the European construction together. It is the precondition for the very existence of the EU institutions, including the ECB, and for the policies that they are ... (full story)