Articles for category: Europa

Brexit and Citizenship

What are the likely consequences of Brexit for the status and rights of British citizenship? Can the fact that every British national is an EU citizen mitigate the possible negative consequences of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU on the plane of the rights enjoyed by the citizens of the UK? These questions are not purely hypothetical, as the referendum on June 23 can potentially mark one of the most radical losses in the value of a particular nationality in recent history.

20. Juni 2016

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Britain’s Neverendum on Europe

The UK Prime Minister has told us that the June 23rd vote will settle ‘once and for all’ Britain’s vexed relationship with Europe. I wouldn’t count on it. The current marathon is only beginning. The upcoming referendum has all the hallmarks of a ‘neverendum’: a campaign that tries to resolve an issue yet only succeeds in polarizing opinion yet further, guaranteeing its presence on the political agenda for years, if not decades, to come.

16. Juni 2016

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The Brexit Vote: The Wrong Question for Britain and Europe

Referendums are supposed to provide decisive interventions in the affairs of state. Yet the referendum theory is in fact deeply flawed. European ‘membership’ for a country of Britain’s size, influence and location should be less a matter of ‘yes or no’ than one of ‘more or less’. The reduction of a complex and graduated choice to a basic dichotomy simply does not reflect the position or serve the interests of the vast majority who will be affected by the outcome. What is more, and worse, the crude logic of either-or plebiscitary politics threatens to become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

15. Juni 2016

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Supranationale Demokratie als Demokratieflucht: Die Kommission im Freihandelsmodus

In Sachen TTIP und CETA ist die Kommission nach mehrfachem Hin und Her offenbar entschlossen, den nationalen Parlamenten doch kein Recht zur Mitsprache einzuräumen. Das ist ein kognitiver Rückschritt der Kommission in Sachen Responsivität gegenüber demokratischer Öffentlichkeit und mit der Prämisse, durch das Europäische Parlament seien die Abkommen noch irgendwie durchzubringen, auch eine demokratische Milchmädchenrechnung.

14. Juni 2016

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A Tale of Two Exits: Scotland and Brexit

The EU referendum has become is a form of displacement activity, a chance for the English voters to affirm their Englishness. If England votes for Brexit and Scotland to stay in the EU, the question will be whether the other EU Member States would accept Scotland – perhaps in a confederation with Northern Ireland – as a new or continuing EU Member State or even as the continuing UK.

13. Juni 2016

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The European Union and the Erosion of State Capacity

The broad assumption in Europe is that member states of the European Union inherently have the capacity to implement EU legislation. This proceeds from the general understanding of Weber’s definition of the modern state as having a monopoly of legal violence within its territory. To this can be added the capacity of the state to “read” the population, to know through censuses, registers data bases who the inhabitants of the state are and, for that matter, where they are; the ability to impose taxes; and the capacity to sustain the uniform distribution of authority.

13. Juni 2016

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Jurisdiction, legislation, and creative interpretations in the Opinion of AG Wathelet in C-72/15 Rosneft

The frequent legal challenges to the European Union’s economic sanctions regimes have resulted in several judgments chiseling out key issues of EU law. Case C-72/15 Rosneft, which will be decided in the coming months, provides the European Court of Justice (ECJ) yet another opportunity to do so. In particular, the Rosneft case invites the ECJ to clarify its jurisdiction and power of judicial review over decisions taken by the Council under the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) – in the context of a reference for preliminary ruling.

13. Juni 2016

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