Tougher Integrity Rules for the European Parliament
The current scandal at the European Parliament might trigger an overdue discussion: Foreign officials should be either prohibited to lobby on legislation or be subject to rigorous disclosure rules.
Articles for category: Europa
Das Postfaktische über Korruption in der Europäischen Union
Auch wenn es dem Europäischen Parlament in den letzten Jahren gelungen ist, eine Mehrheit zu finden, um die Mitgliedstaaten Ungarn, Polen, Rumänien, die Slowakei, Bulgarien und Malta wegen Korruption zu schelten, ist es weitaus schwieriger, seine eigenen Mitglieder zu kontrollieren. Das Europäische Parlament ist der absolute Herrscher über seine eigene Integrität. Wenn es seine Möglichkeiten einschränken will, indem es volle Transparenz bei Sitzungen, Zugang, Ausgaben und Reisen bietet, kann es das tun - gute Vorschläge liegen schon seit Jahren vor.
The Dutch Asylum Policy for Russian Draft Evaders
In a one page letter of 13 December, the Dutch state secretary for immigration Eric van der Burg explained to Dutch parliament how asylum claims made by Russian draft evaders will be dealt with. The new Dutch policy makes a distinction between Russian conscripts and Russians reservists who attempt to evade the mobilisation which the Russian president announced last September. Conscripts will continue to enjoy a form of temporary protection in the Netherlands. Asylum claims of Russians who evade mobilisation will, however, be decided on an individual basis. Importantly – and controversially – the state secretary suggests that claims of the latter category may now be denied because the Russian mobilisation has been completed.
Qatargate: The tip of the iceberg?
It is strange that the European Union, which is so insistent that Member States and third countries should comply with the rule of law, does not yet have a binding global framework for implementing the principles of transparency and good administration. Unfortunately, thirteen years after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, legislative transparency is far from being ensured and Article 298 TFEU on good administration has only been triggered this year for the first time.
Preserving Procedural Fairness in The AI Era
AI systems have been used and challenged by individuals affected by their output. In the absence of a regulatory framework, national courts in Europe have been called upon to address claimants’ demands for fairness and legal protection. While they have been activists in preserving individuals’ procedural rights by setting requirements for AI systems, the courts' role is, however, doomed to change when the AI Act enters into force.
#DefendingTheDefenders – Episode 4: Turkey
In the fourth episode of #DefendingTheDefenders we talk about the situation of lawyers in Turkey with Veysel Ok. He is an attorney in Istanbul and the Co-Director of the Media and Law Studies Association, a non-profit which monitors and defends freedom of expression cases against journalists.
A fragmented response to media freedom at risk in the Union
The Polish and Hungarian governments have famously parted ways over responses to the Russo-Ukraine war. However, internally, both continue to rely on similar structural changes in the media environment that help them target voters and undermine elections fairness. The EU’s response to the media freedom and pluralism crisis in Hungary and Poland has been more restrained and also qualitatively different from its answer to the judicial independence crisis or threats to academic freedoms and minority rights.
Much Ado About Nothing
On 15 December, the European Commission adopted a European Declaration on Digital Rights and Principles for the Digital Decade. It builds upon primary EU law instruments, and the question inevitably arises of what additional value and effect the Declaration may have.
EU-Ukraine sanctions: Is it time for deeper convergence?
The European Union has been addressing the war in Ukraine against Russia in various ways. To name only a few, the EU has allocated additional funds to support Ukraine, Member States are sending weapons and arms equipment, Brussels is leading the international campaign to hold Russian war criminals accountable and, last but not least, the EU has imposed the largest sanctions package in its history to harm Russia’s ability to wage aggressive war.
The Right to be Forgotten in 2022
On 8 December 2022, the Court of Justice of the European Union delivered its latest landmark judgment on the ‘right to be forgotten’. Despite the largely incremental character, the continuing legal manifestation of the right to erasure/be forgotten/de-referencing raises more fundamental questions on the governance of the datafication of society in the EU.
