Abstract
The first conference addresses the challenges facing democracy in Europe today. It focuses in particular on the consolidation of autocratic structures in some EU member states. The question arises as to whether the EU has the duty and ability to defend democracy and the rule of law, given that it is often accused of being an undemocratic institution itself. It is important, from the point of view of legal and political theory, to stress that what is being destroyed is not only the rule of law, but also democracy (it is therefore a mistake to describe the systems being built in certain states as " illiberal democracies "). This does not mean that democracy and " liberalism " (in the Anglo-Saxon sense of the term) are the same thing, but that in the case of the new autocracies, it is urgent not to accept any rhetoric about their democratic character.
