Articles for category: Regionen

The UK House of Lords

The UK does not have a supreme court with power to strike down laws that are contrary to the constitution, human rights and so on. Instead the system relies heavily on intra-parliamentary mechanisms, operating in the House of Lords. While the current unelected composition of the Lords is controversial and difficult to justify rationally, it is widely agreed across the political spectrum that the Chamber discharges its functions in legislative scrutiny and examination of public polices well.

13. Oktober 2014

The Canadian Senate and the (Im)Possibilities of Reform

The framers of Canada’s Constitution had a vision for the Senate as a complementary, deliberative body bringing regional perspectives to national issues and genuine powers of oversight and sober second thought. It is widely agreed, though, that the Senate’s constitutional configuration stains Canada’s public institutions. The Senate needs change, but the impulse to reform is stifled by the reluctance of officials to open the constitutional amending formula.

12. Oktober 2014

Veto Players and the Greek Constitution

On June 20th, George Tsebelis delivered upon acceptance of an honorary PhD by the University of Crete a speech in which he applies the insights of his seminal "veto player" theory to the task of constitutional reform in Greece with a view to reducing the power of extremist parties. We document this speech in a four-part series.

11. Oktober 2014

Hungarians outside Hungary – the twisted story of dual citizenship in Central and Eastern Europe

In 2010, Hungary amended its Citizenship Act to pave the way for a preferential naturalisation of Hungarians living abroad. This was met with great alarm among Hungary’s neighbours: As a consequence of the Trianon Peace Treaty in the aftermath of World War I, by which Hungary lost large swaths of its territory, a considerable part of the citizenship of Romania, Slovakia, Serbia, Ukraine and other states nowadays consists of ethnic Hungarians. Four years after, tensions between Hungary and its neighbours with respect to dual citizenship are still palpable, since the number of new Hungarian citizens increases continually and already exceeds half million.

8. Oktober 2014

The EU Commission’s »contempt« of national courts?

On 11 September 2014, the European Court of Justice heard a case officially categorised as a competition law matter: Case C-170/13 Huawei Technologies. However, the issue before the Court is much more fundamental; it raises deep constitutional questions concerning the inter-relationship between the national courts and the European Commission - and in particular the asserted ability of the Commission to restrict certain classes of applicants from having access to national courts (and/or penalise their exercise of that right).

8. Oktober 2014

Großbritannien auf dem Weg ins verfassungsrechtliche Irrsal?

Aus deutscher Perspektive könnte man leicht den Eindruck gewinnen, als sei das gar nichts Besonderes, was die Tories in Großbritannien alles an konstitutionellen Umwälzungen planen. Einen nationalen Grundrechtekatalog neben der EU-Menschenrechtskonvention? Autonomie und regionale Selbstbestimmung für alle Teile des Vereinigten Königreichs, England eingeschlossen? Da zucken wir an Föderalismus und Grundgesetz gewöhnten Deutschen nur mit den Achseln. Ist doch normal, oder nicht? Aber der Eindruck täuscht. Was der britische Regierungschef und seine Partei da so alles im Schilde führen, deutet mitnichten in eine Richtung, die uns Kontinentalkonstitutionalisten vertraut und heimelig vorkommen sollte.

6. Oktober 2014

Über die Toten nur Gutes? GROSS v. SCHWEIZ endet im Eklat

Es war einer der profiliertesten Fälle zum umstrittenen Thema Sterbehilfe vor dem Europäischen Gerichtshof für Menschenrechte: Gross v. Schweiz. Jetzt wird es kein materielles Urteil geben, denn die tief gespaltene Große Kammer des EGMR hat die Klage mit hauchdünner Mehrheit als missbräuchlich abgewiesen: Wie sich herausgestellt hat, ist die Klägerin schon seit drei Jahren tot.

30. September 2014