Articles for tag: Asylrecht, EMRK, EU, Migration, Rechtsstaatlichkeit, Rwanda Policy, Safety of Rwanda Bill

Abschreckung um jeden Preis?

Zurzeit berät das Oberhaus des britischen Parlaments (House of Lords) die sog. Safety of Rwanda Bill. Zusammen mit dem Illegal Immigration Act soll dieses Gesetz die Abschiebung von Flüchtlingen nach Ruanda ermöglichen, um dort deren Asylverfahren durchzuführen. Während entsprechende Pläne auch in Deutschland Anklang finden, zeigt das Gesetzesvorhaben in bedenkenswerter Deutlichkeit, welche rechtsstaatlichen Konsequenzen mit einem solchen Outsourcing von Asylverfahren verbunden sind. Denn um einen möglichst wirksamen Abschreckungseffekt auf andere Flüchtende zu erzielen, haben die britische Regierung und das Unterhaus des Parlaments (House of Commons) bereits dafür gestimmt, Tatsachen zu erfinden, Grundrechte außer Kraft zu setzen und internationales Recht zu brechen.

27. Februar 2024

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Human Rights Outsourcing and Reliance on User Activism in the DSA

Article 14(4) of the Digital Services Act (DSA) places an obligation on providers of intermediary services, including online platforms hosting user-generated content (see Article 3(g) DSA), to apply content moderation systems in “a diligent, objective and proportionate manner.” Against this background, the approach taken in Article 14(4) DSA raises complex questions. Does the possibility of imposing fundamental rights obligations on intermediaries, such as online platforms, exempt the state power from the noble task of preventing inroads into fundamental rights itself? Can the legislator legitimately outsource the obligation to safeguard fundamental rights to private parties?

21. Februar 2024

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European Nuclear Weapons

After Donald Trump’s announcement to withhold US military support in case of an attack on a NATO member by Russia under certain circumstances, a discussion has been sparked on whether Europe itself should have their own nuclear weapons for nuclear deterrence. However, given the progress in the legal framework of nuclear non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament, European nuclear weapons would violate international law.

20. Februar 2024

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EU’s Involvement in the Renewal of the Spanish Council of the Judiciary

The growing political polarization of Western liberal democracies often leads to situations of political deadlock that require the intervention of an external authority capable of untangling the knot. After the second (fruitless) meeting held today between Commissioner Reynders and representatives of the Spanish government and the main opposition party, there is no simple solution in sight to an issue of the renewal of the Spanish Council of the Judiciary with significant implications for the immediate future of the Spanish political scenario. In this blog, I argue that underneath all the technical layers of legal order invoked under the generic defence of the rule of law, there are political and democratic debates for which the EU may play an important yet uncertain and questionable role.

19. Februar 2024

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Examining the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act

Finally, consensus on the EU Artificial Intelligence Act. The academic community is thus finally in a position to provide a (slightly) more definitive evaluation of the Act’s potential to protect individuals and societies from AI systems’ harms. This blog post attempts to contribute to this discussion by illustrating and commenting on the final compromises regarding some of the most controversial and talked-about aspects of the AI Act, namely its rules on high-risk systems, its stance on General Purpose AI, and finally its system of governance and enforcement.

7. Februar 2024

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Bricolage, Bullshit, and Bustle

On 15 December 2023, the Swiss Federal Council (Government) announced that it intended to start formal negotiations with the EU on the conclusion of a Framework Agreement (FA) 2.0. Five existing and two new treaties between the EU and Switzerland are to be subject to dynamic alignment and institutionalised, i.e. provided with a monitoring and judicial mechanism. The project, which is practically fixed in the decisive questions by a “Common Understanding” (“CU”) between the two parties, is based on a triple B approach: in substance, it consists of unsuccessful bricolage, the foundations were laid by bullshit, and because elections and a change of the Commission are imminent in the EU, bustle is supposedly of the essence. The CU summarizes what the Parties have informally agreed on.

6. Februar 2024

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A Way Forward?

While included in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (CFR), academic and scientific freedom were for years hardly a focus for the EU. This no longer holds true. On 29 November 2023, the European Parliament invited stakeholders to discuss the state of academic freedom in Europe (STOA conference), including the role of the EU in its legal protection. The conference intertwines with two important developments, both driven by the EP. First, on 22 November 2023, the EP adopted its proposals for the amendment of the Treaties, with some relevant for academic freedom protection. Earlier this month, on 17 January 2024, the EP approved the Report calling on the Commission to initiate a legislative proposal on the promotion of the freedom of scientific research in the EU and providing recommendations on its content. In this blog post, we briefly discuss these two EP calls aimed at enhanced protection of academic and scientific freedom to assess to what extent they address the concerns raised by various stakeholders.

29. Januar 2024

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Unpacking the Critical Raw Materials Act

The recently adopted Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) is framed as a milestone for the EU Green Industrial Plan and the twin green and digital transitions. In the context of emerging green industrial policies and the resurgence of the state as an economic actor, the Act encapsulates the EU’s attempt to instrumentalise markets for public objectives. Yet, the bid to generate tailored and specific market outcomes is undercut by the Act’s primary strategy of adjusting risks and returns for ultimately volatile, profit-driven private initiative. At the same time, the Act’s focus on domestic green growth, even if read charitably, remains myopic to the global challenge of climate change and perpetuates existing patterns of core-periphery extractivism.

18. Januar 2024

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Germany Blocks Europe-Wide Protection of Women Against Violence

Gender-based violence has dramatically increased in the European Union (EU) in recent years. In particular women are widely affected by rape. On 8 March 2022, the Commission presented a Draft Directive for comprehensive, effective and enforceable protection against gender-based violence in all EU Member States. The main point of contention in the negotiations, which could ultimately prevent the adoption of the Draft Directive, is the introduction of the common definition of the criminal offence of rape. The Directive aims to harmonize across Europe the definition of rape as a violation of the consent-based sexual act. Yet, twelve Member States, with Germany and France at the forefront, are not convinced that the EU has a sufficient legal base to regulate that issue. This article highlights the arguments for a common regulation of the criminal offence of rape in the EU under Art. 83 (1) TFEU against the doubts raised by the German Federal Ministry of Justice.

17. Januar 2024

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One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

This blogpost unpacks some of the ‘democratic paradoxes’ that come with the ‘Defence of Democracy’ package (DoD package), which the European Commission published on Tuesday, 12th of December. While a Recommendation on promoting civic engagement and citizen participation (Civil Society Recommendation) reflects positive changes in the Commission’s conception of democracy, the ‘Directive establishing harmonised requirements in the internal market on transparency of interest representation carried out on behalf of third countries’ (Foreign Funding Directive) directly contradicts this emphasis on a more citizen-centred model and is illustrative of a broader dilemma: how to defend democracy in the EU’s multi-level constitutional space, while keeping the sensitive legal tools for doing so out of the hands of the enemies of democracy that are already – and for the time being irreversibly – on its inside.

19. Dezember 2023

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