Articles for category: No DOI

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

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.

Der unsichtbare Dritte

Durch die Richtlinie zu Sorgfaltspflichten in der Lieferkette sollen große Unternehmen in der EU dazu verpflichtet werden, Menschenrechts- und Umweltstandards in der Lieferkette einzuhalten. Doch wer stellt sicher, dass Zulieferer, die nicht selten über die ganze Welt verteilt sind, diese Standards auch wirklich erfüllen? Der Entwurf für die Richtlinie, den die Kommission in der vergangenen Woche veröffentlicht hat, setzt dafür maßgeblich auf unabhängige Dritte: die wiederum privatwirtschaftlichen Zertifizierer. Diese Strategie fördert aber nicht nur Private als „Ersatzbehörden“, die selbst kaum reguliert sind, sondern könnte auch die Marktkonzentration ohnehin schon großer Unternehmen weiter verstärken.

New Wine in Old Bottles

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 Enemy Within

It is an oft-forgotten fact that Poland has a coalition government. And it is oft-forgotten for a good reason: the largest of the coalition partners, PiS, carries a plurality of votes in the Parliament as well as the strongest popular support. For most of the time this allows them to suppress or ignore any dissenting voices within the coalition. The coalition arrangement however causes constant tensions.

Too little, too late

A few weeks after the ECtHR first stepped into the ring for the fight against rule of law backsliding in Poland via its Xero Flor judgment, it has now dealt a new blow to the Polish judicial reforms. In its Broda and Bojara ruling, the issue at hand was not the composition of the Constitutional Court, but the termination of judges’ mandates as court (vice) president. In its judgment, the Court showed once more its commitment to the safeguarding of domestic judges and the procedural protection they should enjoy. Yet, one can wonder whether the judgment will really have an impact and if it is not too little too late.

Deutschland, Russland und „Dazwischen“

Eine neue nationale Sicherheitsstrategie, wie sie Außenministerin Annalena Baerbock fordert und wie sie im Zentrum dieses Symposiums steht, muss auch die Grundzüge der deutschen Ostpolitik auf den Kopf stellen. Ein Kniefall in Butscha reicht dafür nicht aus – wäre aber ein Anfang. Dieser Beitrag skizziert die möglichen Fixpunkte, Baustellen und Potentiale einer regionalen Perspektive im Kontext der Ukrainekrise. Für die deutsche Außenpolitik bedeutet diese insbesondere einen Perspektivwechsel: Ostpolitik ist mehr als Russland-Politik.

Slicing Away at Regulatory Statutes

In its June 2023 decision in Sackett v. EPA, the U.S. Supreme Court interpreted the Clean Water Act of 1972 to significantly cut back its water pollution protections and to hand an important victory to private property owners.  Sackett is not simply important for its impact on environmental protection.  Although it may be among the Court’s less visible recent rulings, it follows the Court’s trend of anti-administrativist rulings and may add importantly to the Court’s kit of anti-regulatory interpretive tools.