Articles for category: Europa

Untying the Ties that (don’t) Bind

In his letter to MEP Daniel Freund of 17 June 2022, European Council President Charles Michel argued that neither he, as President, nor the European Council have the power to exclude democratically unaccountable representatives of a Member State from that institution. But President Michel’s apparent recourse to a literal reading of Article 15(2) TEU – which fails to consider its relationship with other provisions relating to the composition of the European Council – is not convincing.

7. Juli 2022

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The Core of the European Public Space

Increasing the visibility of the constitutional fundamentals of the Union takes on existential importance in times of constitutional reckoning or, as some call it in more ominous terms, in times of “capitulation”. It is for that reason that art. 19(1) TEU should be amended to reflect the case law of the Court of Justice and thus to codify the core that binds the Member States to the discipline of the legal order.

30. Juni 2022

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Russian Elites, Proxies, and Oligarchs – Make them Pay!

Russland und seine starken Männer sollen buchstäblich für die Kriegsschäden in der Ukraine zahlen. Die Kommission schlägt vor, die Durchsetzung von Sanktionen mit unionsweit einheitlichen Strafandrohungen zu stärken und auf diesem Weg elegant zugleich einen Rechtsgrund für die Einziehung involvierter Vermögenswerte zu schaffen. Diesem Vorhaben stehen ungeachtet seiner politischen Opportunität erhebliche sanktionstechnische, unionsrechtliche und vor allem strafrechtliche Bedenken entgegen, die erhebliche Zweifel an Zulässigkeit und Erfolgsaussichten nähren.

24. Juni 2022

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Fundamental Rights at the Digital Border

We are witnessing the emergence of the EU’s ‘digital border’: an ecosystem of interoperable databases to expand the surveillance and control of the movement of third-country nationals. In this blog post, we discuss one of the latest additions to this ecosystem - the European Travel Information and Authorisation System, or ETIAS in short - and argue that the system as it is currently set up violates the right to data protection laid down in Article 8 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, especially in light of the CJEU’s PNR judgment earlier this week. In many ways, we consider ETIAS to be a test case for a much wider roll-out of such often AI-powered technologies in the field of border control.

24. Juni 2022

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A Directive altered beyond recognition

On 21 June 2022, the Court of Justice of the European Union rendered its decision in the preliminary ruling procedure on the fate of the PNR Directive. The Court had a chance to decisively answer one of the most crucial questions facing European security law: Is indiscriminate mass data retention for and the technology-induced analysis of ordinary human behavior compatible with fundamental rights? It instead opted for an enigmatic compromise creating a whole host of new questions. It does not change the fact that the PNR Directive survives – as a strange beast altered beyond recognition.

23. Juni 2022

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Tackling Discrimination in Targeted Advertising

On 21 June Meta and the US Department for Housing and Urban Development released a legal settlement that will restrict Meta’s ability to offer those clients some of its core ad-targeting products. It resolves (for now) a long-running case over discriminatory targeting of housing adverts. Meta is now prohibited from using certain targeting tools in this context, and has promised new tools to ensure more representative targeting. This US lawsuit should be a wake-up call for European regulators, reminding them that taking systemic discrimination seriously requires proactive regulatory reform and enforcement. The relevant provisions of the Digital Services Act (DSA) are largely symbolic.

23. Juni 2022

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Experimenting with European Democracy

The Conference on the Future of Europe came to an end on 9 May, with the presentation of a final report of 49 recommendations and 329 specific measures to the  presidents of the three EU institutions. While it is unclear what the exact follow-up to the Conference will be, the upcoming Council Summit on 23-24 June will show whether a simple majority of Member States is open to starting the process for a Treaty change.

21. Juni 2022

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The UK’s anti-legal populism

Calls for UK withdrawal from the ECHR are raised at fairly regular intervals in certain quarters of the Conservative party, but this week various members of the Government, including the Prime Minister. Reason for this was an interim measure by the European Court of Human Rights that stopped a deportation flight to Rwanda. It was entirely predictable that calls for UK withdrawal from the ECHR would resurface. Less predictable for many, are the implications this would hold for the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement.

17. Juni 2022

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