Abstract: The climate crisis is – as far as we can see in 2021 – the greatest challenge of the 21st century. The existence of global warming as a human-made problem and the abstract need of transiting away from fossil energy sources is largely accepted. The question, however, of how to best achieve this transition is a major bone of contention –...
Abstract: This Insight makes four key claims. First, evolutionary biology and the study of chimpanzees show that social animals have an emotional need for a stable, formal hierarchy. Second, sovereignty might be understood as a highly evolved and abstract solution to fill this basic need. Third, global interdependence and European...
Abstract: In its opinion of 15th April 2021 in case C-561/19, Consorzio Italian Management and Catania Multiservizi (ECLI:EU:C:2021:291) AG Bobek proposed to revise the CILFIT criteria which famously concern the duty of the National courts of last instance to request a preliminary ruling. After a brief analysis on the controversial...
Abstract: In the Chrysostomides case (joined cases C-597/18 P, C-598/18 P, C-603/18 P and C-604/18 P Council v Chrysostomides & Co. and Others ECLI:EU:C:2020:1028), the Court of Justice (ECJ) confirmed its previous finding that the Eurogroup has only an informal and intergovernmental nature. Building on the cases Ledra...
Abstract: The year 2020 marked the 20th anniversary of the proclamation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. It was drawn up at the end of a long process, to which the Court of Justice has contributed substantially, affirming since the seventies the obligation to protect fundamental rights in the Community. The drafting of a...
Abstract: In December 2020, the European Parliament and the Council adopted a new piece of legislation aimed at protecting the rule of law in the Member States of the Union – the so-called rule of law Conditionality Regulation. This contribution tracks the legislative process in the run up to the new Regulation, analyses the substance and the...
Abstract: In Bank Refah Kargaran (case C-134/19 P Bank Refah Kargaran v Council ECLI:EU:C:2020:793), the Court of Justice decided that it has jurisdiction to award damages for non-contractual liability incurred by the EU for harm caused by certain restrictive measures in Common foreign and security policy (CFSP) decisions. In so...
Abstract: The preliminary questions of the Supreme Court of Lithuania in case E.E. (C-80/19) presented a unique opportunity to provide a more detailed and comprehensive interpretation of several provisions of the Succession Regulation. Responding to them, in its judgment of 16 July 2020 the CJEU discussed the understanding of the cross-...