Articles for category: Europa

Ein kleiner Meilenstein

Am 25. Januar 2021 hat zum ersten Mal ein „Panel of Experts“ auf Initiative der EU über die Verletzung von Standards der nachhaltigen Entwicklung im Rahmen eines Freihandelsabkommens entschieden. Obwohl es keine rechtlichen Hebel zur Durchsetzung der Entscheidung gibt, setzt der Panelbericht EU-Korea materiellrechtlich neue Maßstäbe. Durch die Emanzipation der überprüften Arbeitnehmerschutzstandards vom Handelsbezug legt es zudem den Grundstein für zukünftige Streitbeilegungsverfahren, die sich allein gegen die Verletzung von Nachhaltigkeitsstandards richten.

3. Februar 2021

, ,

The EU’s and UK’s Self-Defeating Vaccine Nationalism

The European Union and the United Kingdom currently risk being victims of their own vaccine nationalism. The time-pressure for securing as many vaccine doses against COVID-19 as possible has led to hiccups and even tensions between both. At the heart of the matter is AstraZeneca’s delay in distributing a given number of doses in the European Union. Meanwhile, it continues to serve the United Kingdom in a timely fashion. The threat of imposing export restrictions is now on the table.

30. Januar 2021

, , ,

Kein Brexit »auf Rädern«

Das Handels- und Kooperationsabkommen zwischen der EU und Großbritannien wurde als "EU-only" Abkommen geschlossen, an dem nur die EU und nicht auch die Mitgliedstaaten als Vertragsparteien beteiligt sind. Juristische Zweifel an der gewählten Rechtsgrundlage sind aber unbegründet, da das Abkommen ein Assoziierungsabkommen ist.

27. Januar 2021

, , ,

›Laws of Fear‹ in the EU

COVID-19 has demonstrated the fragility of EU free movement rules when faced with an unknown virus of such magnitude and strength, while raising the issues of power, solidarity and trust in the system. The fear of COVID-19 has also had a strong impact on the application of two principles in EU free movement law: the principle of proportionality and the precautionary principle. The pandemic has had a transformative effect on the application of these principles.

27. Januar 2021

,

Witch Hunt against 14 Cracow Judges

Judges who have examined cases related to the reinstatement of Prosecutor Mariusz Krasoń have been and are being persecuted for their purely judicial actions. Krasoń called attention to the politicization of the prosecutor’s office in a May 2019 resolution adopted by the Assembly of Prosecutors of the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Cracow. As a result he was demoted, harassed, and his workplace was moved around 300 km from his residence. Over the last two months, the Internal Affairs Department of the National Public Prosecutor’s Office has summoned as witnesses 14 judges from five different benches of Cracow’s district, regional and appellate courts. The judges now face potential criminal charges of failure to fulfil obligations as public officials, punishable by up to three years of imprisonment (Art. 231(1) of the Penal Code). Their purported crime? Failing to persecute Prosecutor Krasoń. 

26. Januar 2021

,

Being Naïve or Putting Business First?

The European Union would like to believe that it is acting robustly and cohesively to promote human rights and democracy globally. This (self-)perception as a force of good in terms of responsible business conduct and human rights protection might however be less accurate than many within the EU think. Some details about the recent EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) seem to spoil this rosy picture.

19. Januar 2021

, ,

1825 Days Later: The End of the Rule of Law in Poland (Part I)

On 13 January 2016, exactly five years ago today, the Commission activated the so-called rule of law framework for the very first time with respect to Poland. Ever since, the Polish authorities’ sustained and systematic attacks on the rule of law directly threaten the very functioning of the EU legal order. In what has become an annual series of dire warnings, this is an overview of the 2020 developments regarding the deterioration of the rule of law in Poland.

13. Januar 2021

, , ,

New Year’s Predictions on Rule of Law Litigation

On December 16, the European Union legislature finally adopted Regulation 2020/2092 on the rule of law conditionality of EU funds. Although the Regulation is supposed to apply from 1 January 2021, Hungary and Poland have reportedly announced their intention to challenge it before the CJEU. Here are three predictions on how this litigation is going to go in the year ahead.

7. Januar 2021

, , ,

Mitigating Brexit through Bilateral Free-Movement of Persons

Rather than bemoaning the Brexit choice the UK made, it is time to start thinking about living with it in a way that would cause as little disruption as possible for all those concerned. How to mitigate, at least to some degree, the sudden, unprecedented loss of rights that Brexit caused? EU citizenship not any more on the table, bilateral freedom of movement of persons agreements with the EU Member States, EEA countries and Switzerland could offer a way forward. This solution is fully in line with EU law and has already been tested.

4. Januar 2021

, , ,

Richtige Balance?

Der Europäische Haftbefehl ist nicht nur eine Dauerbaustelle des europäischen Grundrechtsschutzes, sondern zugleich das Produkt verketteter Fehlleistungen europäischer Institutionen. Kommission und Rat haben mit dem Rahmenbeschluss über den Europäischen Haftbefehl 2002/584/JI politisch ein Instrument geschaffen, das einseitig Funktionsinteressen der Strafrechtspflege forciert. Grundrechte wurden hingegen von Anfang auf eine Floskel reduziert, von der die effektive Rechtsanwendung möglichst verschont werden sollte.

4. Januar 2021

, , ,