Fundamental rights and rule of law are the cornerstones of the functioning of the European Union. In the EU accession negotiation process, Chapter 23 of the EU acquis – Judiciary and fundamental rights – represents the key chapter and simultaneously the most dynamic and challenging one of the whole negotiation process. That is due to its nature, as it encompasses key elements of a functioning democratic society, namely a functioning judiciary; fight against corruption; and fundamental rights. With the 2020 revised enlargement methodology, the chapters of the EU acquis were rearranged, thus creating six clusters. Cluster 1, also called Fundamentals, includes a plethora of topics and carries enormous weight in the whole negotiation process with the fact that it opens firsts and closes last.
