10 January 2018

Memory Politics in Hungary: Political Justice without Rule of Law

After the 1989-90 democratic transition, Poland and Hungary were the first to introduce the institutional framework of constitutional democracy and of transitional justice. For a number of reasons, including a lack of democratic traditions and constitutional culture, after the 2010 parliamentary elections, liberal constitutionalism became a victim of the authoritarian efforts of Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party. In April 2013, the government as part of the Fourth Amendment to the Fundamental Law adopted Article U, which supplements detailed provisions on the country’s communist past and the statute of limitations in the body text of the constitution. Continue reading >>
09 January 2018

30 days, six months… forever? Border control and the French Council of State

For Christmas 2017, the French Council of State – the Supreme Court for administrative matters in France – gave a nasty present to those attached to the free movement of persons in the Schengen area. In a ruling issued on 28 December (see here, in French), it upheld the decision of the French Government to reintroduce, for the ninth time in a row, identity control at its “internal” borders, i.e. borders with other Schengen countries – even though checks at internal borders are not, in fact, systematically performed. This decision, issued without even bringing the matter to the Court of Justice of the European Union for a preliminary ruling, sets aside, probably unlawfully, the time limit set by the Schengen Borders Code. Continue reading >>

Decommunization in Times of War: Ukraine’s Militant Democracy Problem  

The Ukrainian parliament Verkhovna Rada adopted four ‘memory laws’ shortly after the Maidan revolution in the spring of 2015: One contains a legislation criminalizing both Nazi and Communist totalitarian regimes, prohibiting the propaganda of their symbols; two laws commemorating, respectively, Ukraine’s fighters for twentieth-century independence movement and the victory over Nazism during the Second World War, and a law guaranteeing access to archives of repressive Soviet-era organs. These laws raise fundamental questions about the legitimate defense of democracy in times of political transformation and war. Continue reading >>
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Das NetzDG und die Vermutung für die Freiheit der Rede

Das Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz (NetzDG) verstößt gegen die grundrechtliche Vermutung für die Freiheit der Rede. Das heißt nicht, dass die sozialen Netzwerke nicht reguliert werden dürften. Eine solche Regulierung darf dann aber nicht einseitig das „Zuwenig-Löschen“ bekämpfen, sondern muss auch dem „Zuviel-Löschen“ entgegenwirken. Continue reading >>
08 January 2018

Memory Laws: Historical Evidence in Support of the “Slippery Slope” Argument

The notion of memory laws emerged as recently as the 2000s, and it can be used in a narrow sense of denoting enactments criminalizing certain statements about the past (such as Holocaust denial) and in a broad sense as including any legal regulations of historical memory and commemorative practices. Such regulations are by no means a recent phenomenon. Continue reading >>
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Is the Crime in the Eye of the Beholder?

The French Constitutional Council has, for the second time, struck down a law that prohibits the usual consultation of terrorist websites. There is a higher abstract risk associated to the act of publishing a message than in the isolated act of reading it. Focusing on the prevention of the harm likely to be inflicted by the reader of the websites might not be the only way to deal with this statute, though. Continue reading >>
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07 January 2018

Law and Historical Memory: Theorising the Discipline

Recent years have witnessed a surge of studies on law and historical memory, often authored by comparative constitutional scholars. Such scholarship frequently takes ‘particularist’ forms, through studies of dramatic events within specific states or regions. As part of the T.M.C. Asser Institute – Verfassungsblog symposium on memory laws, however, this essay asks: Can the discipline be characterised as a whole? If so, in what ways and with what aims?  Continue reading >>
06 January 2018

The Right to the Truth for the Families of Victims of the Katyń Massacre

Recently, Uladzislau Belavusau with his post about a de-communization law in Poland launched a joint ASSER-Verfassungsblog symposium on what he has coined "mnemonic constitutionalism". Aleksandra Gliszczyńska-Grabias followed up on this topic by mapping the landscape of various memory laws in the recent years and unfolding the ongoing challenges to fundamental rights, joined by Anna Wójcik with an exploration of how memory laws affect state security. With this contribution, I would like to discuss how the European Court of Human Rights has failed to offer redress to the families of the victims of the Katyń massacres seeking to receive information about their loved ones. I will compare the Polish case-study with the Spanish and South-American practice concerning the “right to the truth”, thus adding this concept to the array of topics discussed under the umbrella of “memory laws” and mnemonic constitutionalism. Continue reading >>
05 January 2018

Memory Laws and Security

Recently, Uladzislau Belavusau with his post about a de-communization law in Poland launched a joint ASSER-Verfassungsblog symposium on what he has coined "mnemonic constitutionalism". Aleksandra Gliszczynska-Grabias followed up on this topic by mapping the landscape of various memory laws in the recent years and unfolding the ongoing challenges to fundamental rights. With this essay, I would like to highlight another aspect of mnemonic constitutionalism, affecting various understandings of security. Continue reading >>
04 January 2018

Law and Memory

Recently, Uladzislau Belavusau with his post about a de-communization law in Poland launched a joint ASSER-Verfassungsblog symposium on what he has coined "mnemonic constitutionalism". Drawing on his idea of mnemonic constitutionalism, I would like to join this discussion by mapping the general landscape of how memory laws have recently been manufacturing the socio-constitutional climate in various states. Continue reading >>
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03 January 2018

The Commission takes a step back in the fight for the Rule of Law

The European Commission has filed a complaint against Poland with the Court of Justice of the European Union based on Article 258 TFEU, in connection with the Polish Act on the Common Courts System. Fines may be charged on Poland as a result of the case, but the Commission has probably quietly withdrawn some of its charges, apparently opting for the somewhat modified “Hungarian scenario”. The impact of this new approach on the reversibility of the changes introduced to the Polish judiciary will be very limited. Continue reading >>

Chiles Verfassungs­reform – erfolgreicher Bürger­beteiligungs­prozess?

Chiles Verfassung stammt im Kern immer noch aus der Pinochet-Ära. Die scheidende Präsidentin Michelle Bachelet hatte eine grundlegende Verfassungsreform versprochen und dazu einen umfassenden Bürgerdialog initiiert. Was aus diesem Prozess unter ihrem Nachfolger Piñera wird, ist ungewiss. Continue reading >>
02 January 2018

Catalonia in deadlock, and why that is a European problem

The Catalan territorial conflict is stuck. No clear solutions are on the table after the elections of December 21st. Catalans and Spaniards are failing so far to find solutions to the problem. But it is our European common problem and our common responsibility to try to help them. More specifically, EU institutions should be doing much more of what they have done so far. I blame them for their passivity in the last couple of months. Continue reading >>
30 December 2017

„A Good Constitution” and the Habits of Heart

Unless we want to complete an obituary for the rule of law in 2018, the challenge should be clear. While improving constitutional safeguards against the excesses of any majority is of utmost importance, it is insufficient. What is needed this time is moving beyond text text and on to building the context in which a constitution will prosper. Continue reading >>
27 December 2017

Some Thoughts on Authoritarian Backsliding

In December I took part in a number of discussions, including at two interesting conferences – one in Nijmegen (the Netherlands) and the other in Berlin. Both of these conferences were on the subject of the return of authoritarianism in Central and Eastern Europe, and I believe the points raised at them are worth sharing. Continue reading >>
26 December 2017

Doppelpass in Südtirol?

In ihrem Regierungsabkommen nehmen die ÖVP und die FPÖ in Aussicht, „den Angehörigen der Volksgruppen deutscher und ladinischer Muttersprache in Südtirol (...) die Möglichkeit einzuräumen, zusätzlich zur italienischen Staatsbürgerschaft die österreichische Staatsbürgerschaft zu erwerben”. Es ist unwahrscheinlich, dass es je zum Doppelpass kommen wird. Zu zahlreich, zu verzwickt sind die rechtlichen Schwierigkeiten. Dabei ist Italiens eigene Staatsbürgerschaft-Politik selbst alles andere als fehlerfrei. Continue reading >>
23 December 2017
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The European Commission’s Activation of Article 7: Better Late than Never?

On Wednesday, the European Commission reacted to the continuing deterioration of the rule of law situation in Poland. The remaining question, of course, is why this argument has been used in the context of 7(1) as opposed of 7(2) given that the situation on the ground in Poland is clearly – in the view of the Commission, the Venice Commission and countless other actors – one of clear and persistent breach of values, as opposed to a threat thereof. The explanation might lie beyond the simple difficulty of the procedural requirements related to the sanctioning stage. Continue reading >>
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21 December 2017

Cats, Constitutions and Crises: Dissemination of Research on the Rule of Law Crisis in Poland in a Social Media Age

On "Ceiling Sejm", the Cat, GIF Memes and other ways to fight for the rule of law in Poland in the age of social media and to reach millennials with legal academic expertise. Continue reading >>
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What’s in a Name? The Republic of Macedonia at the Crossroads

Forming of the new Government on 31st of May 2017 marked the beginning of the end of one of the most serious political crisis that Republic of Macedonia has lived through from its independence. The country was faced with challenges both on the domestic front – the dissolution of the democratic institutions and backsliding to authoritarianism, and on the international front as well – worsening of the relations with its neighbors. One of the first steps taken by the new government was to renew the ties with its Southern neighbor – Greece and to continue the talks over the name issue. After a period of three years, the representatives from both countries started negotiating again in order to resolve the name dispute and the security implications of this prolonged dispute on the Balkan region. But by all means the renewal of the negotiations is only just a beginning of the lengthy path of rebuilding the trust and solving the issue that has been a huge burden especially to the R. Macedonia’s integration in EU and NATO. Continue reading >>
20 December 2017

Taking the EU-Turkey Deal to Court?

The EU-Turkey deal on the return of refugees is one of the most controversial policy steps taken by the EU in recent years. The EU General Court chose to sidestep the difficult legal questions raised by the deal by dismissing these cases, ruling it had no jurisdiction to review the deal on the ground that the Statement was not an act of Union institutions, but that of Member States. Will the CJEU use this opportunity to set the record straight by establishing who had the competence to conclude the EU-Turkey deal? Continue reading >>
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19 December 2017

Das abgekaufte Grundrecht: Verfassungs­widrige Rück­kehr­förderung

Das Innenministerium hat Anfang des Monats ein neues Programm zur Förderung der „freiwilligen“ Ausreise von Ausländerinnen und Ausländern aufgelegt. Wer sich bis Ende Februar 2018 zur Rückkehr entscheidet, kann „Reintegrationsunterstützung im Bereich Wohnen“ im Wert von bis zu 3.000 Euro erhalten. Das Programm ist Teil einer Rückkehrförderung, die Schutzsuchende zur Rücknahme von Asylanträgen bewegen will. Damit steht sie im Widerspruch zur Verfassung. Continue reading >>
18 December 2017

Next Stop on the Way to Constitutional Disarray in Poland: Electoral Law Reform

Last Thursday, the Sejm has passed another hugely controversial law that might change the constitutional setup in Poland without changing a letter of the constitution itself. The law claims, according to its title, to „increase the participation of citizens in the process of electing, functioning and controlling certain public bodies“ (doc. 2001). In large parts, it consists of amendments to the Polish Electoral Code (E.C). Its adoption is opposed by the parliamentary opposition, by the electoral administration bodies and by many experts. The enactment of this law would violate the principle of a democratic state ruled by law in three ways. Continue reading >>
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14 December 2017

Tu, felix Austria, nube! Ehe für alle – jetzt auch in Österreich

Der österreichische Verfassungsgerichtshof hat festgestellt, dass die Unterscheidung zwischen der Ehe als Rechtsinstitut für verschiedengeschlechtliche Paare und der eingetragenen Partnerschaft für gleichgeschlechtliche Paare gegen das Diskriminierungsverbot des Gleichheitsgrundsatzes der österreichischen Bundesverfassung verstößt. Als erstes Verfassungsgericht Europas hat der VfGH daher die unterschiedlichen Regelungen für verschieden- und gleichgeschlechtliche Paare aufgehoben. Continue reading >>
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12 December 2017
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A Bridge over Troubled Water – a Criminal Lawyers’ Response to Taricco II 

The recent CJEU judgment in M.A.S., M.B. (hereinafter Taricco II) [...] Continue reading >>
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11 December 2017

Im Technokraten-Panzer auf dem Weg zur Europäischen Armee

Heute hat der Rat der EU das so genannte PESCO-Projekt beschlossen. Es soll wesentlich zur Errichtung einer europäischen Verteidigungsunion beitragen. Es ist rundweg zum Staunen, wie sich nach all den kritischen europapolitischen Grundsatzdiskussionen der vergangenen Jahre bei der Militär- und Rüstungsintegration offenbar die Fehler der Vergangenheit wiederholen. Es ist das technokratisch-funktionalistische Europa, das hier voranschreitet, und nicht das demokratische Europa, das aus der offenen Diskussion der europäischen Bürgerschaft entsteht. Continue reading >>
07 December 2017

Belittling the Primacy of EU Law in Taricco II

The Taricco II judgement handed down by the CJEU on 5 December 2017 is a telling and worrying example of a weakly reasoned court decision and the high price at which such weakness comes. It is a judgement that disregards legally problematic questions, seemingly subordinating argumentative consistency to the constraints of legal policy in a climate increasingly critical towards EU law and institutions. The (potential) collateral damage of this approach is considerable. Continue reading >>
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Nur noch auf einem Ohr taub

Kann man Tschetschenen nach Russland ausliefern? Das Bundesverfassungsgericht bestätigt das Recht auf Sachaufklärung im Auslieferungsverfahren, verkennt aber die Reichweite der Anhörungspflicht. Continue reading >>
06 December 2017
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Zum Beten in den Keller?

Die Universität Hamburg hat einen Verhaltenskodex veröffentlicht, der den Umgang mit unterschiedlichen Vorstellungen zur Religionsausübung an der UHH grundsätzlich regeln soll. Allerdings lässt die Ausgestaltung zu wünschen übrig. Es fehlt an praktischer Konkordanz und ironischerweise entfaltet eine angeblich dem Abbau von Diskriminierung dienende Maßnahme selbst eine geschlechterspezifisch diskriminierende Wirkung. Continue reading >>

Criticizing the new President of the Polish Constitutional Court: A Crime against the State?

L'état c'est moi. Thus said France’s Louis XIV, and thus seems to think of herself Julia Przyłębska – since the 2016 “coup” against the Constitutional Court in Poland, she is the President of that Court, de facto appointed to the post by the man who runs Poland these days, Jarosław Kaczyński. Last October a Polish oppositional daily, Gazeta Wyborcza, described how she allegedly colluded with the Polish State security in the pursuit of her position at the Constitutional Court. Przyłębska tried to defend herself by using criminal-law instruments otherwise designed to  protect the State. "By attacking me, you attack the State,” she seems to suggest. Continue reading >>

What’s in a name? A Brexit we can all enjoy

Northern Ireland will have a ,hard Brexit' as any other part of the UK and, at the same time, be subject to a ,regulatory alignment' with the Republic of Ireland and, hence, the EU. Such is the elegance of this solution, that one might be tempted to mistake it for a genuine policy innovation. In fact, using a made up name for something that you are already doing and calling it ‘new’ has a long pedigree and has been used aplenty. Continue reading >>
05 December 2017
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Defusing the Taricco Bomb through Fostering Constitutional Tolerance: All Roads Lead to Rome

As Mauro Cappelletti perceptively wrote in 1986, ‘unlike the American Supreme Court and the European Constitutional Courts, the Court of Justice has almost no powers that are not ultimately derived from its own prestige, intellectual and moral force of its opinions’. In other terms, the Court of Justice (‘ECJ’) cannot take obedience to its judgments by Member States and the respective authorities as granted or constitutionally-mandated since, in Weiler’s words, this is a voluntary obedience which goes hand in hand with the exercise of constitutional tolerance in the Member States. In other words, there is a time for the enforcement of the radical primacy of EU law as in Melloni and Taricco I, and a time for internalizing the counterlimits, as in the Taricco II decision (M.A.S. and M.B. case) handed down today by the ECJ. Continue reading >>
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04 December 2017

EGMR prüft neues Konzept der Sicherungsverwahrung in Deutschland

Ist die deutsche Praxis, besonders gefährliche Straftäter auch nach verbüßter Strafe weiter in Haft zu halten, mit der EMRK vereinbar? Seit 2009 steht diese Frage im Raum. Jetzt wird die Große Kammer des EGMR im Fall Ilnseher noch einmal ganz grundlegend überprüfen, ob sie der jetzigen deutschen Regelung tatsächlich eine konventionsrechtliche Unbedenklichkeitsbescheinigung ausstellen kann. Continue reading >>
03 December 2017

Merabishvili v. Georgia: Has the Mountain Given Birth to a Mouse? 

The wait for those of us looking for much needed answers to understand what direction and coherence the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights would give to its nascent Article 18 case law (also known as ‘bad faith’ case law) has ended. A verdict has been reached in Merabashvili v. Georgia Grand Chamber judgment of the European Court of Human Rights.  In a climate of retreat from human rights law and standards under the guise of domestic legalism, answers to the questions of what it means to violate the Convention in bad faith, how we prove it and what responses we owe to bad faith human rights violations have become pressing and urgent. The Grand Chamber gave us answers to the first two questions and passed on the third. Continue reading >>
02 December 2017

Der Bundesparteitag der AfD und die Pflicht der Parteien, Medienberichterstattung zuzulassen

Die AfD hat nach scharfer Kritik bei ihrem Bundesparteitag doch Journalisten zugelassen, ohne ihre politischen Präferenzen zu speichern. Die Frage bleibt aber, ob es das Grundgesetz einer politischen Partei erlaubt, die Akkreditierung von Journalisten von deren Bereitschaft abhängig zu machen, die Speicherung sensibler persönlicher Daten zu erlauben. Die Frage ist klar zu verneinen. Continue reading >>
30 November 2017

Im Zweifel für die Sicherheit – EGMR billigt Abschiebung eines sogenannten „Gefährders“

Der Europäische Gerichtshof für Menschenrechte (EGMR) hat die Entscheidung des [...] Continue reading >>
29 November 2017

Die Dritte Option: Für wen? 

Sollte der Gesetzgeber eine Dritte Option im Personenstandsrecht einführen, so wird er sich damit auseinandersetzen müssen, wer Zugang zu dieser Dritten Option erhalten soll. Dieser Beitrag geht der Frage nach, was sich aus der Entscheidung vom 10. Oktober 2017 dazu entnehmen lässt: Muss die dritte Option neben inter*geschlechtlichen Menschen auch allen anderen offen stehen, die sich weder als Mann noch als Frau verstehen? Continue reading >>

The Politics of Recognition and the Limits of Emancipation through Law

In this post I will call attention to the limits to recognition’s emancipatory potential, the possibility of gender-proliferation ad absurdum, and I will take another look at the privacy argument. I conclude with a reappraisal of the ‘null-option’ and support for scrapping gender registration altogether. Continue reading >>
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28 November 2017

Es lebe die Republik!

In einem politischen System, das sich aufgrund historischer Erfahrungen in besonderer Weise der Stabilität verschrieben hat, erzeugt das Scheitern der Jamaika-Sondierungen eine gewisse Unsicherheit. Wir suchen nach einem „Abteilungsleiter Befindlichkeit“, der uns einfach einmal mit der notwendigen Autorität von Person oder Amt sagt, wie es weitergehen soll. Im antipolitischen Affekt und in neomonarchischer Verklärung richten sich daher seit Tagen alle Augen auf einen: den Bundespräsidenten. Continue reading >>

Judicial “Reform” in Poland: The President’s Bills are as Unconstitutional as the Ones he Vetoed

Five months ago, the Polish President Duda vetoed the PiS laws on the judiciary as unconstitutional. Currently, the President and the PiS are negotiating about a solution to this conflict. But make no mistake: The Presidential vetoes have not triggered any new proposals which would be qualitatively better in terms of consistency with the Constitution than the initial PiS bills that he vetoed. Both the PiS and the President’s proposals are glaringly unconstitutional, though in different ways. Continue reading >>
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Gesundbeten und Krankreden, oder: Wie man die EU besser nicht unterstützen sollte

Sie klingen so hübsch und sympathisch, die Namen, unter denen sich die neuesten Apologien der Europäischen Union präsentieren: “Europäische Republik”,  “postnationale Demokratie” – wer wollte da dagegen sein unter uns Kosmopoliten und Pro-Europäern? Robert Menasse und Ulrike Guérot sind zwei der sichtbarsten Protagonisten dieser neuen Loyalität zur Union. Doch wenn man ihre Bücher näher betrachtet, entdeckt man sofort, dass ihr Pro-Europäismus eine fragwürdige Segnung ist. Er ist abstrakt und halbgebildet. Und er ist sogar ein wenig gefährlich. Continue reading >>
27 November 2017
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Bialowieza Forest, the Spruce Bark Beetle and the EU Law Controversy in Poland

The battle about logging in the protected Bialowieza primeval forest in Poland puts the rule of law in the European Union in danger – in more than just one way. Continue reading >>
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24 November 2017

Provisional (And Extraordinary) Measures in the Name of the Rule of Law

The showdown was inevitable. At some point, the Court of Justice had to show its teeth and remind the Polish government of its duty to comply with the rule of law and with the values enshrined in Article 2 TEU. For the Member States of the EU, the rule of law is not an option. You either take it or leave it (and thus leave the EU). However, Poland’s late attitude towards EU integration, happily accepting the money from EU funds but showing its back on the fundamental values of the EU, was inevitably going to be confronted, sooner or later, at the Court of Justice. If the showdown was predictable, the surprise has been that it has all happened so quickly, so frontally and… in interim relief procedures in an infringement action against Poland. Continue reading >>
23 November 2017

A Constituent Assembly Only in Name? Part III on Venezuela’s Constituent Assembly

The constitutional assembly in Venezuela is a constituent assembly in name only: First, it does not seem to be a temporary body that aims at performing its tasks within a preassigned and limited time frame. Second, so far it appears as if it is not the Constituent Assembly´s primary goal to draft a new constitution. Rather, its actions and the conscious choice of the Federal Legislative Palace as a meeting place suggest that the aim of this “superpower” is to replace the opposing parliament and silence any dissent. Continue reading >>

A Constituent Assembly Only in Name? Part II on Venezuela’s Constituent Assembly

On the 1st of May 2017, Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro called for a constituent assembly invoking the articles 348, 70, 236 and 347 of the 1999 Constitution. This is in alignment with Maduro’s first line of argument that he acted according to the present constitution. However, there are many reasons to believe he is not. Continue reading >>

A Constituent Assembly Only in Name? Part I on Venezuela’s Constituent Assembly

In July 2017, Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro convened a constituent assembly. In other words, an authoritarian president under pressure relies on what some theorists have referred to as the origin of all democratic rule. This raises one central question: Is this assembly really a constituent assembly, or is it one in name only? Continue reading >>
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22 November 2017
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Protecting Israeli Citizens against Discrimination in Germany?

Last week, the district court of Frankfurt/Main issued a verdict that Kuwait Airways was allowed to refuse an Israeli citizen on its flight. The decision gained widespread international news coverage: Amidst concerns about rising antisemitism in Europe, many parts of the public were alarmed by what the mayor of Frankfurt described as anti-Semitic discriminatory practices that violated German law and international standards. In the following we take a close look at the legal issues involved in this case and discuss whether or not it might have been possible to come to a different conclusion. Continue reading >>
21 November 2017

‚EU-Ausländer’ bleiben trotz Einbürgerung: Der EuGH macht es möglich!

Stellen Sie sich vor, Sie machen als deutscher Staatsbürger von Ihrem Freizügigkeitsrecht als Unionsbürger Gebrauch; arbeiten für einige Jahre in einem anderen Mitgliedstaat und heiraten dort einen Drittstaatsangehörigen, der nun ebenfalls von Unionsrecht wegen ein (abgeleitetes) Aufenthaltsrecht erhält. Dass Sie ihren Ehepartner ohne Rechtsverlust sollten mitnehmen können, wenn Sie nach Deutschland zurückkehren wollen, erscheint nur folgerichtig; der EuGH hat dies schon 2014 klargestellt. Nun hat der Gerichtshof allerdings in der vergangenen Woche einen draufgesetzt. Droht das Freizügigkeitsrecht seine Konturen zu verlieren? Continue reading >>

Rule of Law in Poland: Memory Politics and Belarusian Minority

Memory politics and protection of ethnic minorities have not received enough attention in the discussion on the decline of the rule of law in Poland and Hungary. Poland has recently supplied a paradigmatic example. Continue reading >>
20 November 2017

Warum eine Minderheitsregierung niemand wollen kann

Kommt es nach dem Scheitern der Jamaika-Verhandlungen zu einer Minderheitsregierung? Deren Befürworter erhoffen sich davon eine Renaissance des Parlamentarismus. Solche Vorstellungen sind aber, bei allem Respekt, romantischer Unfug und beruhen auf grundsätzlichen Fehlvorstellungen über das Regierungssystem im Allgemeinen und die heutige Verfassungslage im Besonderen. Continue reading >>
17 November 2017

Gleiche Freiheit für alle! Zur freiheitsrechtlichen Begründung des BVerfG in der Entscheidung zur Dritten Option

Geschlechtliche Vielfalt ist auch rechtlich mehr als Zweigeschlechtlichkeit, so das BVerfG in seinem Beschluss zur „dritten Option“: Das aktuelle Personenstandsrecht ist verfassungswidrig, soweit es dazu zwingt, das Geschlecht zu registrieren, aber keinen anderen positiven Geschlechtseintrag als weiblich oder männlich zulässt. Ebenso revolutionär wie das Ergebnis ist auch die Begründung: Der Senat ordnet den Schutz der Geschlechtsidentität erstmals nicht nur dem allgemeinen Persönlichkeitsrecht, Art. 2 Abs. 1 iVm Art. 1 Abs. 1 GG zu, sondern auch dem Diskriminierungsverbot des Art. 3 Abs. 3 S. 1 GG. Im Rahmen des Symposiums wirft dieser Beitrag einen Blick auf die freiheitsrechtliche Begründung und arbeitet heraus, warum es wichtig ist, Freiheitsrechte und Gleichheitsrechte nicht isoliert voneinander zu betrachten. Continue reading >>