In a speech before the General Affairs Council in Luxembourg on 22 April 2013, EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding underlined the need for a new set of instruments to ensure the rule of law across the EU. The speech was in response to a letter by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Germany, Denmark, Finland and The Netherlands, in which they called for a stronger role of the Commission as guardian of the Treaties.

The Commissioner noted the existence of a gap between the "soft power" of political persuasion and the "nuclear option" of Article 7 of the Treaty on the EU, which provides that the European Council may suspend certain rights of a Member State for "serious and persistent breaches" of the values of the EU set out in Article 2 of the Treaty. She also made reference to the "Copenhagen dilemma", i.e. the EU insists on a threshold of standards as a pre-condition for States seeking to join the EU (part of the Copenhagen criteria), but has no powers to ensure that these standards continue to be respected after accession.

While not excluding the possibility of further action under the current Treaties, Commissioner Reding expressed the belief that it would also be appropriate to include this subject matter into future reflection on the Treaty itself. She pointed out that creating an effective new mechanism would require legitimacy and acceptance by all Member States, as it would give the Commission a new role it does not currently have.