Seit dem Amtsantritt von Donald Trump als 47. Präsident der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika vergeht kaum eine Woche, in der wissenschaftliche Einrichtungen nicht attackiert werden. Die US-Regierung macht nun geltend, dass Harvard – und andere Universitäten – gegen Title VI des Civil Rights Acts verstießen, indem sie als "Brutstätten für Antisemitismus" dienten. Das wirft allerlei verfassungsrechtliche Fragen auf.
The EU is facing an "Orbán problem". That much is clear. The Hungarian government not only pursues an illiberal domestic agenda that violates the Union's values in Article 2 TEU, but also cultivates close ties with autocratic regimes abroad, particularly with Russia. The Hungarian government consistently uses its veto powers to block Ukrainian military aid and dilute sanctions against Russia. The Commission should submit a new proposal under Article 7(2) TEU focusing on breaches of solidarity and threats to the Union's security.
Soft Law bietet die Möglichkeit der agilen und flexiblen Regulierung, die sich gerade an die dynamische digitale Entwicklung anpassen kann. Allerdings gilt Soft Law durch seine unverbindliche Natur als wenig effektiv. Mit dem Digital Services Act (DSA) beschreitet die EU jedoch einen unkonventionellen Weg, indem sie Hard Law und Soft Law in – zumindest aus dogmatischer Perspektive – eigentümlicher Weise miteinander verbindet. Der DSA ist selbst eine rechtsverbindliche EU-Verordnung, welche jedoch Soft Law Instrumente vorsieht und sogar Vorschriften zu ihrer rechtlichen Durchsetzung enthält. Derlei Regelungstechniken sind im Unionsrecht zwar durchaus bekannt, doch stellen sie zumindest der öffentlichen Wahrnehmung des DSA als 'Verfassung des Internets' in Frage. Wie weitreichend kann eine solche Verfassung sein, die wesentliche Fragen an (exekutiv initiiertes, privat gesetztes) Soft Law auslagert?
Oben und unten, Nazis und Sozialdemokraten, Ruinen und Idyllen, und all das tief, tief in Thüringen
On 21 June 2022, the Court of Justice of the European Union released its judgment regarding the compatibility of the EU Directive on Passenger Name Record Data with the rights to privacy and personal data protection. Ligue des droits humains has already qualified as a landmark decision, where the Court had the opportunity, among other aspects, to provide comprehensive guidelines on how large-scale predictive policing should take place. The ruling could be used as an inspiration for the legal assessment of various new security law instruments which require automated predictive threat detection instruments.
The new king is not a modern man. What if that is actually good news?
Conflagration in France.
On February 14, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights released its judgment on the Raphael Halet case. In a context of both increasing attacks against financial transparency, and failure of states to properly implement the EU directive on the protection of whistleblowers, the judgment by the Grand Chamber was a much awaited one. This case gave the Strasbourg Court an opportunity to reaffirm the importance of whistleblower protection as a human right, and amend the threshold for protection. Yet, the Strasbourg Court still falls short from providing whistleblowers a safe way of expressing concerns publicly.
The Commission needs to get its message out to Hungarians loud and clear that it is trying to fight corruption in Hungary so that EU money can be used to benefit the Hungarian people and not just Orbán's circle of cronies. Hungarians would definitely appreciate that if they knew it. But the Commission's press release today has been drowned out by Orbán's use of state funds to flood the zone with his message that the Commission doesn't care about the Hungarian people and is responsible for all of the economic pain they feel.
Eine Reise nach Beirut
13. September 2025
Giovanni Capoccia
12. September 2025
Anne Peters
12. September 2025
Anne Peters