Neither Soil, Nor Blood, Nor Money
Russian oligarchs in Malta, descendants of Italians in South America, and Mexicans crossing into the US make unlikely characters for a common story. Yet over the first half of 2025, the ability of each of these groups to acquire or transmit citizenship status has been under scrutiny, signalling a shared preoccupation with ensuring that citizenship reflects “authentic” bonds and is not acquired instrumentally. In the struggle to define these “authentic” bonds each intervention strikes at the heart of some well-known citizenship tenet – the link to soil, blood, or money – without offering a clear alternative. The resulting void calls for a reflection on the principles that ought to inform rules on citizenship attribution.
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Whose Consent?
On 4 October 2024 the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice upheld the General Court’s decision to annul two economic agreements concluded between the European Union and the Kingdom of Morocco. This judgment is a landmark for the CJEU in its application of international law. The Grand Chamber is navigating a difficult path; it seeks to ensure EU agreements comply with international law and respect the rights of the people of Western Sahara while seeking to maintain economic relations between the EU and Morocco.
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Number Crunching EU Law and the Irish Legal Order
In this short piece, I will outline a few of the extremes of the Irish relationship with Europe that I have personally studied or encountered and its impact in my view. Many years ago, I wrote a dissertation on the relationship between EU law and the Irish legal order, on the unravelling dynamic since accession, focussing upon the preliminary reference data. I felt it was a deserving topic precisely because there was so little interest as to the relationship between EU law and Ireland. Ireland was uniformly always excluded from major US and EU political science studies that have been iconic in shaping views on EU integration.
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Journalistic Independence, the BBC and the Government of the Day
The structures that preserve the independence of journalism from the power of the UK state seem to be under assault. The government of the day has the power to appoint people to the board that oversees the BBC. The problem, to express it in more abstract terms, relates to the extent to which private institutions that perform public functions should be the focus of public and constitutional law.
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