On 12 September 2018, two events occurred, both with considerable legal and political implications, and seemingly inspired by different conceptions about the role of European fundamental values and principles. The first event is a resolution adopted by the European Parliament - on the basis of a large majority - calling upon the Council to determine the existence of a clear risk of a serious breach by Hungary of the fundamental values of the Union - the so-called preventive procedure established by Art. 7, para. 1, TEU (P8_TA-PROV(2018)0340). The second event is the order in joint cases C-208/17 P to C-210/17 P, NF and Others v. European Council, by which the Court of Justice declared the appeals lodged against the three orders of the General Court of 28 February 2017 manifestly inadmissible, which, in turn, had declared as inadmissible three actions for annulment against the EU-Turkey Statement of 18 March 2016 (see case T-192/16, NF v. European Council; case T-193/16, NG v. European Council; case T-257/16, NM v. European Council: hereinafter, NF). There is no relation, of course, between these two events, that only by accident must have occurred on the same date. Their only connecting factor lies in the diverse, perhaps opposite, conception of the inspiring principles of the process of integration in Europe. On 12 September 2018, the European Parliament embraced the fundamental values of Europe as its own mission and brandished its democratic legitimacy as a sword against the popular legitimacy that, hélas, supports the path towards illiberal democracy. On the same date, the Court of Justice abstained from unveiling the mysteries that still surround one of the most controversial instruments of the Union's migrant policy; by so doing, it abdicated its role as ultimate custodian of the principles and values of the process of European integration. These two events symbolise how fragile and inconsistent the conduct of the various actors of this process may be. At the same time, they remind us of the need to maintain firmly the fundamental values, common to the EU and to its Member States, as the only polar star to navigate the troubled waters of integration.