 Hello. I'm Stavros Zuridis. I'm a professor of law and public administration at Tilburg University and in particular at the Tilburg Institute of Governance. And I welcome you to this video in which we introduce our public governance programs. Recently, the European Commission launched the nuclear option of Article 7 of the European Union Treaty against Poland. Hungary has also been under attack of the European Commission for violating the basic principles of the rule of law. So what's happening with the rule of law in Europe, which is the cradle of the rule of law concept and idea? Do we witness a decline of the rule of law and if so, what are the root causes of this decline? This is one of the questions we address in our programs on public governance. Obviously, questions like these require extensive elaboration. I can therefore only briefly touch upon a couple of issues. First, we should address the concept of the rule of law. The debate between the European Commission and some member states concentrates on a political understanding of the rule of law. Two positions compete. One in which the rule of law refers to the legality of government and one in which the rule of law refers to a broader set of liberal and humanitarian values. And the key question is whether authoritarian regimes that comply with basic standards of legality of government, legal equality and legal certainties are achieving the rule of law or whether they do not achieve the rule of law. And the example frequently mentioned in the literature is Singapore. Its government is based on legality, legal equality and legal certainty, but the regime simply does not allow for political freedoms. From an academic perspective, this political issue, whether authoritarian regimes that comply with basic rule of law standards, should not or should be considered as a rule of law. From an academic perspective, this political issue cannot be resolved. So let us focus on the academic perspective. And this provides a broader understanding of the rule of law. The rule of law simultaneously refers to a legal entity, rules, principles, precedent, rights, a sociological entity, which is a normative institutional order, the way we do things and the public administration entity. The rule of law has to be implemented and enforced. And whereas the debate between the European Commission and Poland and Hungary focuses on the legal design of the rule of law, the real problem of the rule of law in Europe is the gap between the legal entity on the one hand and the sociological and public administration entity on the other hand. In other words, there is a compliance gap and there is an enforcement gap. And the growing number of rules and legal checks as well as the scarcity of resources in the public institutions that should enforce the rule of law have led to this growing gap between the law in the books and the law as enforced. And therefore, non-compliance, rule violation, crime even pays off in Europe and citizens are not protected by the rule of law. Whether we look at organized crime, fraud, migration, tax evasion or cybersecurity, almost all behavior that violates rules and regulations pays off. It should not come as a surprise that European citizens massively resort to populism and authoritarianism if they observe the injustice as a consequence of this enforcement gap. Instead of penalizing Poland and Hungary, research does suggest a better approach to save the rule of law in Europe. And this approach consists of three tracks. First, the European Commission should focus on less rules and less proceduralism in administrative law and criminal procedure. Second, Europe should seriously strengthen the organizing capacity of the organizations that enforce and implement laws. Third, action speaks louder than words. Instead of promoting citizen participation, governments should focus on restoring justice by changing the payoff structure of non-compliance. That would really save the rule of law in Europe. And it underlines we need governance and public administration students to do this job. Thank you very much for your attention and I look forward to welcome you as a student in Tilburg, a student of public governance in one of our programs to further discuss these very important issues with you.