Augustin Berthout

Between Legal Deficiencies and Political Restraint

Traditionally, it is Germany, not France, which is presented as the model example of militant democracy. Among the various provisions of the German Basic Law, Article 21 (2), setting out the procedure for banning political parties, is perhaps one of the clearest expressions of the basic constitutional decision in favour of a streitbare Demokratie. Nevertheless, setting concepts aside and examining empirical data, it is interesting to note that Germany has banned fewer political parties than France since the end of the Second World War. Continue reading >>

Joseph Marko

The Kovačević Case Revisited

On 20 March 2023 the Council of the European Union gave Bosnia and Hercegovina green light to start accession negotiations. However, despite this political endorsement, BiH must fulfill the conditionality criteria, including a series of six judgments by the ECtHR relating to the predetermined ethnic keys. The last case, Kovačević v. BiH, was referred to the Grand Chamber in December 2023. If the Court follows its previous case law, this should force the mono-ethnic political parties and their leaders as well as the EU institutions to insist on de-blocking the constitutional impasse for any realistic steps towards European integration. Continue reading >>

Frank Decker

Keine Spielchen mehr mit den verdeckten Stimmzetteln

Viele der Maßnahmen, die jetzt erwogen werden, um sich gegen das Szenario einer schrittweisen Machtübernahme der rechtsextremen AfD zu wappnen, betreffen das Parlamentsrecht. So wichtig und richtig es ist, den automatischen Zugriff der AfD auf diese Ämter zu beschränken oder Blockademöglichkeiten zu minimieren, so merkwürdig bleibt, dass in der Debatte ein Aspekt regelmäßig ausgeklammert bleibt, der die Durchführung der Wahlen betrifft. Die geheime Wahl des Regierungschefs ist aus demokratischer Sicht nur schwer zu rechtfertigen. Continue reading >>

Tine Hanrieder, Julian Eckl

Closing the Accountability Gap

In their latest ‘WHO transformation’ (which began in 2017), the WHO hired at least six consulting firms, praised by the Director-General as the ‘best firms in the world’. Despite their prominent role in WHO processes and reform efforts, there is a clear accountability gap in their role at WHO. Consultant engagement contributes to a trend towards informal governance and public-private collusions in an organization that looks less and less like a public authority. Continue reading >>

Maebh Harding

Rejecting Lip Service or Validating 1930s Family Values?

On 8th March 2024, the Irish people rejected two separate constitutional referendums on family and care in an overwhelming no vote. These amendments aimed to update a conservative and gendered ideal of family found in Article 41. The family and care referendums involved more abstract statements of directive constitutional values. The result of the referendums is a win for voter confusion, anger towards the government and the NoNo campaign. It is also a loss for political constitutionalism. Continue reading >>

Angela Bourne

Party Bans and Populism in Europe

In the latest episode in a decades-long conversation about militant democracy, the growing electoral success and radicalization of Alternative for Germany have relaunched debates about the appropriateness of restricting the political rights of those who might use those rights to undermine the liberal democratic order. While it is typical for dictatorships to ban parties, democracies also do so, but for different reasons and with compunction. Party bans respond to varying rationales which have evolved over time. However, a ban on the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany would be out of step with more general patterns of opposition to such parties in Europe. Continue reading >>

Robert Brockhaus, Benjamin Düsberg, Nikolas Göllner

Zwischen Fluss, Meer und Strafbefehl

Macht sich strafbar, wer den Satz „from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free“ verwendet? In aller Regel nicht. Der Slogan ist vieldeutig und Gerichte müssen bei mehreren Deutungsmöglichkeiten wegen der Meinungsfreiheit genau begründen, warum allein die strafbare Interpretation plausibel sein soll. Er kennzeichnet auch nicht die Hamas, denn verschiedene Akteure verwenden ihn seit Jahrzenten bis heute. Continue reading >>

Uwe Volkmann

Einerseits und Andererseits

Die derzeitige Diskussion um ein Verbot der AfD ist ein anschauliches Beispiel dafür, wie sich die Wahrnehmung auch ganz grundlegender verfassungsrechtlicher Institute im Laufe der Zeit verändern kann. Bis in die siebziger und achtziger Jahre des letzten Jahrhunderts war das Parteiverbot bei vielen geradezu verschrien; es galt zusammen mit den Notstandsgesetzen und dem Radikalenerlass als weiteres Repressionsinstrument eines autoritären Staates, als sichtbarer Beleg für dessen immer nur vorgeschobene Liberalität. Aber ob man den Antrag stellt oder nicht, ist eine schwierige Abwägungsentscheidung, die man auch nicht dadurch unterlaufen kann, dass man sie zu einer rechtlichen erklärt oder sie in der Verfassung schon vorweggenommen sieht. Continue reading >>

Tobias Schramm

Silence is Golden, but not Mandatory

Last week, European Commissioner Breton received a slap on the wrist from the commission’s officials. After he (politically unwise) criticized the process of electing Ursula von der Leyen as the EPP’s leading candidate on X (formally Twitter), the Commission’s Secretary General did not mince his words in reminding him of his obligations under EU law and the potential sanctions for violating them. In this post, I argue that one cannot construe the duties of the Members of the Commission as a prohibition of political expressions of any kind. Continue reading >>

Sabine Mair

A Critical Assessment of How We ‘Speak’ EU Law

Although EU law touches on several profound and complex ontologies of ways of living and being in the European polity, these meanings are usually not reflected in how lawyers and legal scholars ‘speak’ EU law. The reason for this is that EU law is formulated in a strikingly abstract and univocal way, leaving little room for an in-depth consideration of the different interpretations of the law by reference to the various values and conceptions of the individual and social institutions that it underlies. Continue reading >>

Toni Marzal

The Janus-Faced Culture of EU Law

Can there be a cultural study of EU law? The notion of legal culture is notoriously tricky. It is both omnipresent and yet seemingly ungraspable. Can we nevertheless hope to dispel the mystery of legal culture, and seize this notion as an object of study? And can it provide a method to improve our understanding of EU law? Continue reading >>

Benedict Ertelt

Das Ende des parlamentarischen Konsensprinzips?

Am Mittwoch verhandelte das Bundesverfassungsgericht zu zwei Organstreitverfahren der AfD-Bundestagsfraktion gegen den Bundestag und verschiedene Bundestagsausschüsse. Das erste Verfahren richtet sich gegen die Abwahl des Abgeordneten Stephan Brandner als Vorsitzenden des Rechtsausschusses in der vergangenen Legislaturperiode, das zweite Verfahren betrifft die „Nichtwahl“ der AfD-Kandidaten für den Vorsitz von Innenausschuss, Gesundheitsausschuss und Entwicklungsausschuss in der laufenden Legislaturperiode. Die mündliche Verhandlung verstärkte den Eindruck, dass bewährte Parlamentstraditionen, die auf konsensualem Zusammenwirken aller Fraktionen basieren, mit dem Einzug der AfD in den Bundestag kaum noch zukunftsfähig sind. Continue reading >>

Andrzej Schultz, Jakub Sawicki

Polish(ing) Broken Tribunal

Resetting the Constitutional Tribunal in Poland after the Law and Justice Party's eight years in power is a Herculean task. However, the constitutional and political room for maneuver for the new government turns out to be quite limited. Continue reading >>

Marc Bovermann, Johanna Fink, Jakob Mutter

PimEyes User auf den Spuren der RAF

Ende Februar hat die Polizei die mutmaßliche RAF-Terroristin Daniela Klette in Berlin festgenommen. Dies haben Hinweise ermöglicht, an die ein Journalist mittels der Gesichtserkennungssoftware PimEyes gelangt war – allerdings unter Verstoß gegen das Datenschutzrecht. Dass die Polizei die Hinweise verwendet, ist verfassungsrechtlich problematisch, denn sie selbst dürfte PimEyes nicht einsetzen. Dies hindert die Polizei aber nicht daran, aufgrund von Hinweisen durch Private, die PimEyes generiert hat, gegen bestehende Gefahren einzuschreiten und auch nicht daran, strafprozessuale Ermittlungen aufzunehmen. Continue reading >>

Andrew Duff

How to Avoid Another Botched EU Enlargement by Sticking to the Rules

Is the European Union once again about to duck the challenge of constitutional reform? Even the imperative of Ukraine’s accession does not impel the EU to strengthen its governance. The European Parliament has made formal proposals to change the treaty from unanimity to QMV. The Commission equivocates. The European Council simply sits on the dossier, looking for excuse after excuse. Worse, a new idea is being floated in Brussels that mixes bad law with bad politics. The ruse is to use Article 49 TEU, the accession clause, instead of Article 48. I explain here why this approach will neither help Ukraine nor salvage the Union’s self-respect. Continue reading >>

Marie-Laure Basilien-Gainche

Studying Migrations and Borders from a Pluridisciplinary Perspective

I chose for years to consider migrations and borders from a pluridisciplinary perspective. Such a pluridisciplinary approach reveals to be demanding: it needs both to be developed with discipline, and to be opened to wanderings. You have to accept to be confronted with personal controversies, to be faced with internal discourse on the method. Continue reading >>

Antoine Bailleux

Europe’s Judicial Narratives

Through the representations of Europe that it conjures up and conveys, the European Court of Justice significantly influences the EU’s self-perceived identity. In that sense, it contributes to the shaping of a European polity, i.e. a European political community united by shared representations about its history and identity. Continue reading >>

Agustín José Menéndez

The Triumph of EU Law in Context?

Whereas law-in-context analyses of Community law were relatively rare in the early 1990s, they seemed to flourish from that point onwards. Unsurprisingly, even “mainstream” journals, such as the Common Market Law Review, now strive to attract pieces that combine legal analysis with social, political or economic insights. Does that mean that we are all “contextualists” now? Not in my view. Continue reading >>