The article critically examines the European Commission’s conceptualisation of the rule of law in enlargement. Three main arguments are advanced. First, regarding the Commission’s understanding of the rule of law in the pre-accession process, it will be argued that it predominantly concentrates on legal-institutional reform. The article asserts that, although important, this particular focus fails to recognise that the rule of law is not only about the functioning of the (broader) legal sector, and the application and enforcement of law per se, but also about formal rule of law elements related to the quality of laws and regulations, as well as about societal orientation towards the rule of law and the will to respect it. Secondly, it will be argued that the EU’s pre-accession process does not sufficiently address the rule of law’s core formal elements, to the extent that its main focus is alignment with the acquis and changes made to domestic legislation are measured in terms of quantity and not quality. Thirdly, although the recent enlargement strategies and monitoring reports increasingly acknowledge the importance of societal transformation needed for the rule of law to take root in the applicant states, it will be demonstrated that this soft rule of law element has not (yet) been incorporated in the Commission’s understanding of and approach towards the rule of law.

中文翻译：

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重新审视欧盟委员会扩大法治的方法

本文严格审查了欧洲委员会对法治的概念化。提出了三个主要论点。首先，关于委员会在加入前过程中对法治的理解，有人认为它主要集中在法律制度改革上。文章断言，尽管重要，但这一特别重点未能认识到法治不仅与（更广泛的）法律部门的运作，法律本身的适用和执行有关，而且与正式的法治有关。与法律和法规质量，社会对法治的取向以及尊重法治的意愿有关的要素。其次，acquis和国内立法所做的更改在数量和质量不来衡量。第三，尽管最近的扩大战略和监测报告越来越认识到法治扎根在申请国的社会转型的重要性，但将证明这种软法治要素尚未（尚未）纳入委员会对法治的理解和方法。