17 January 2023
Abschied von der Personenwahl
Der heute in den Fraktionen beratene Entwurf für ein Wahlgesetz schlägt ein neues Kapitel in der Geschichte des personalisierten Verhältniswahlrechts auf, die am 16. Februar 1946 in London begann (dazu Knowles). Vertreter der Besatzungsverwaltung in Deutschland und der britischen Regierung verständigten sich damals auf ein Kommunalwahlrecht für die britische Besatzungszone: Ein Teil der Abgeordneten sollte mit relativer Mehrheit in Wahlkreisen, ein anderer nach dem Parteienproporz aus Listen gewählt werden. Continue reading >>
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A Possible Regime Change in Israel
Israel is rapidly undergoing a regime change/constitutional revolution - Hungary style - as reflected by various draft bills placed on the Knesset’s agenda during the past days, accompanied by a grand plan of reform presented by the Minister of Justice on January 4th. The new Israeli government only took office a few weeks ago, but these plans, evidently, were prepared carefully over several years. If successful, Israel may fully lose its democracy. Continue reading >>7 Years Later: Poland as a Legal Black Hole
The EU is faced with a Member State where all of its top courts are now unlawfully composed; where every single judicial appointment procedure since 2018 is inherently defective due to the involvement of an unconstitutional body; and where core EU and ECHR requirements relating to effective judicial protection and the fundamental right to an independent court established by law have been held “unconstitutional” in 2021 and 2022 by the body masquerading as Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal. Continue reading >>
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16 January 2023
Wahlrechtsänderung mit einfacher Mehrheit?
In den nächsten Wochen wird im Bundestag der gerade vorgelegte Gesetzentwurf der Ampel zur Änderung des Wahlrechts debattiert, der seinerseits weitgehend die Vorschläge der Mehrheit der vom Bundestag eingesetzten Expertenkommission umsetzt. Über Sinnhaftigkeit, Praktikabilität und – natürlich – Verfassungsmäßigkeit des Vorschlags ist bereits viel geschrieben worden, auch und gerade hier auf dem Blog. Eine andere Frage ist dagegen ausgeblendet oder immer nur am Rande gestreift worden, nämlich ob es eine gute Idee ist, Änderungen am Wahlrecht – hier träfe die Rede von der Operation am offenen Herzen der Demokratie nun wirklich einmal zu – zur Not nur mit den Stimmen der Regierungsfraktionen vorzunehmen, ohne die Opposition mit ins Boot zu holen. Continue reading >>Judicial Impartiality in Indonesia Under Attack
The independence of judicial power in Indonesia is in a precarious situation. Lately, the parliament haphazardly dismissed Constitutional Judge Aswanto, a parliament-proposed Constitutional Judge. This situation was exacerbated through the inauguration of the parliament-proposed substitute, Constitutional Judge Guntur Hamzah, by President Widodo who could have refused to authorize this illegal act. Instead, President Widodo took part in the destruction of the Constitutional Court, putting judicial independence in Indonesia in jeopardy, particularly facing the upcoming 2024 election. Continue reading >>
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Demonstrieren schwer gemacht
Am 6. Januar 2022 trat in Nordrhein-Westfalen das erste landeseigene Versammlungsgesetz (VersG-NRW) in Kraft. Obschon die Gesetzgebungskompetenz für das Versammlungsrecht seit der Föderalismusreform 2006 bei den Ländern liegt, galt in Nordrhein-Westfalen bis Anfang 2022 das Versammlungsgesetz des Bundes fort. Dass der Landesgesetzgeber im Bereich des Versammlungsrechts ein eigenes Landesgesetz vorgelegt hat, ist grundsätzlich begrüßenswert. Das Gesetz ist jedoch in vielerlei Hinsicht freiheitsbeschränkend und daher verfassungsrechtlich angreifbar. Continue reading >>
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13 January 2023
Angriff auf die Architektur der Demokratie
Schon einen Tag nach der Erstürmung des Kapitols in Washington, D.C . am 6. Januar 2021 durch Anhänger des noch amtierenden Präsidenten Donald Trump, die seine Wahlniederlage nicht akzeptieren konnten, ließ sich Brasiliens Präsident Jair Bolsonaro mit der raunenden Voraussage vernehmen, dass das Gleiche in seinem Land passieren könnte. Zwei Jahre und zwei Tage später schien es so weit zu sein. Die Ähnlichkeit der Bilder von Menschenmassen um und im Parlamentsgebäude in Brasília, die Dominanz der Nationalflagge und ihrer Farben, die anfängliche Unterlegenheit oder Unsichtbarkeit der Sicherheitskräfte und die demonstrative Nichtanerkennung eines zuvor erfolgten Wahlergebnisses schufen eine scheinbar überwältigende Evidenz, dass sich die jüngste amerikanische Geschichte auf der Südhalbkugel wiederholen würde. Continue reading >>
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Versammlungsfreiheit in Lützerath – zur Disposition von RWE und Behörden?
Die Räumung von Lützerath ist im Gange. Die klimapolitischen Protestaktionen dürften bald beendet sein und das Dorf für den Braunkohleabbau abgebaggert werden. Friedliche Proteste dagegen am Ort des Geschehens waren nicht nur demokratisch legitim, sondern auch von der Versammlungsfreiheit aus Art. 8 GG geschützt. RWE war daher verpflichtet, die Proteste zu dulden, solange nicht zu befürchten war, dass die Abbaggerung gewaltsam verhindert würde. Continue reading >>Rechtsstaatliche und strafverfahrensrechtliche Ernüchterung nach der „Berliner Silvesternacht“
Nach gut zwei Wochen bietet die Berliner Silvesternacht weiterhin Anlass für Schlagzeilen und Talkshows. Kein Wunder – so kurz vor den Berliner Wiederholungswahlen. Insbesondere die rechtspopulistisch angehauchte Anbiederung der Berliner CDU, die nach den Vornamen der Tatverdächtigen fragt, erhitzte noch einmal die ohnehin wahlbedingt leicht reizbaren Gemüter in Berlin. Die Regierende Bürgermeisterin von Berlin Franziska Giffey (SPD) wiederum forderte ein Umdenken der Strafjustiz, um so mit schnellen Strafen ein schlagkräftiges und rechtsstaatliches Zeichen gegen diese verrohten Jugendlichen zu setzen. Eine Vornamensabfrage hält sie hingegen für den falschen Ansatz. Continue reading >>Tougher Integrity Rules for the European Parliament
The current scandal at the European Parliament might trigger an overdue discussion: Foreign officials should be either prohibited to lobby on legislation or be subject to rigorous disclosure rules. Continue reading >>
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12 January 2023
Das Postfaktische über Korruption in der Europäischen Union
Auch wenn es dem Europäischen Parlament in den letzten Jahren gelungen ist, eine Mehrheit zu finden, um die Mitgliedstaaten Ungarn, Polen, Rumänien, die Slowakei, Bulgarien und Malta wegen Korruption zu schelten, ist es weitaus schwieriger, seine eigenen Mitglieder zu kontrollieren. Das Europäische Parlament ist der absolute Herrscher über seine eigene Integrität. Wenn es seine Möglichkeiten einschränken will, indem es volle Transparenz bei Sitzungen, Zugang, Ausgaben und Reisen bietet, kann es das tun - gute Vorschläge liegen schon seit Jahren vor. Continue reading >>
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Subsidy Fraud, Relevant Markets and Presidential Elections
Former prime minister and now a member of the Czech parliament Andrej Babiš scored a victory only a few days before the upcoming Czech presidential elections. On 9 January 2023, the Municipal Court in Prague finally issued a verdict in a criminal case involving him and his colleague Ms Nagyová on charges of grant fraud and damaging the financial interests of the European Union. The court concluded that the acts of Mr Babiš and Ms Nagyová, as framed by the prosecution, did not constitute a felony. Hence, to the surprise of many, including Mr Babiš’ attorney, the court acquitted both defendants. The importance of the case can hardly be understated. Continue reading >>
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10 January 2023
The Dutch Asylum Policy for Russian Draft Evaders
In a one page letter of 13 December, the Dutch state secretary for immigration Eric van der Burg explained to Dutch parliament how asylum claims made by Russian draft evaders will be dealt with. The new Dutch policy makes a distinction between Russian conscripts and Russians reservists who attempt to evade the mobilisation which the Russian president announced last September. Conscripts will continue to enjoy a form of temporary protection in the Netherlands. Asylum claims of Russians who evade mobilisation will, however, be decided on an individual basis. Importantly – and controversially – the state secretary suggests that claims of the latter category may now be denied because the Russian mobilisation has been completed. Continue reading >>
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Qatargate: The tip of the iceberg?
It is strange that the European Union, which is so insistent that Member States and third countries should comply with the rule of law, does not yet have a binding global framework for implementing the principles of transparency and good administration. Unfortunately, thirteen years after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, legislative transparency is far from being ensured and Article 298 TFEU on good administration has only been triggered this year for the first time. Continue reading >>09 January 2023
Political Terror in the Shade of Bolsonarism
The attacks of Bolsonarist supporters on democracy and the rule of law in Brazil have reached an extent that has never been witnessed in Brazil since the promulgation of the Constitution of 1988. On 8 January 2023, emulating the events of 6 January 2020 in the USA, a mob of 3,000 Bolsonaro supporters invaded and destroyed the buildings of the National Congress, the Federal Supreme Court, and the Presidency of the Republic in Brazil, which are all located in the famous quarter known as the “Three Branches Square”. In a way, the invasion of the US Capitol has been more tragic, given that human lives have been lost. But there is a sense in which the assault in Brazil was more devastating from a symbolic point of view. Continue reading >>07 January 2023
A House in Disorder
In this post, I’ll explain what has been going on as the House of Representatives has cast an unprecedented number of ballots for Speaker of the House. There are quaint legal reasons why all of this is happening. But then I want to ponder what this says about the ability of the Republican Party to govern the United States because this early-days shutdown of the House follows a pattern in which, for nearly 40 years, the Republicans have wanted to both dominate the federal government and shut it down. Continue reading >>06 January 2023
Die strafrechtliche Undeterminiertheit von Aktionen des ‚Aufstands der Letzten Generation‘ und wie damit umzugehen ist
Ob der zivile Ungehorsam der Personen des ‚Aufstand der Letzten Generation‘ strafbar ist, wird weithin als Frage der Subsumtion von Sachverhalten unter Strafrechtsnormen behandelt. Meist resultiert dann eine Verurteilung, manchmal auch ein Freispruch. Mein Eindruck ist dagegen, dass das einschlägige Recht in vielen Fällen keine eindeutige Antwort enthält und dass deshalb außerrechtliche Umstände auf die Entscheidung einwirken. Dies ist zunächst eine rechtssoziologische Frage, deren Beantwortung aber für die Rechtsanwendung fruchtbar gemacht werden kann. Continue reading >>
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A Ukraine Special Tribunal with Legitimacy Problems?
The call for a Special Tribunal for the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine ('UkrTrib') is also getting louder in the German political discourse. The proposal goes back to an initiative by the British international lawyer and writer Philippe Sands, who was quickly joined by a number of prominent politicians and international (criminal) lawyers), but this is misleading for several reasons, not least because the IMT was a consequence of the defeat of Nazi Germany and the following regime change, which in the case of Russia is unforeseeable. Continue reading >>
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Hostile Constitutional Interpretation
What to do with the façade institution that was once known as the Polish Constitutional Court in a way that would respect the Constitution? A recent and important proposal has argued that the judges who were legally elected by the current Parliament though they have supported the politicization of justice should enjoy the same right to retire as their legal predecessors. We have serious doubts as to the long-term desirability of such a solution. We need a theory that explains why also these lawfully elected judges should be let go as a result of their blatantly unconstitutional adjudication, and why the entire unconstitutional body should be extinguished, rather than simply be tinkered with here and there. Continue reading >>05 January 2023
Interfering with Free Speech and the Fate of Turkey
On 21 April 1998, the then mayor of İstanbul, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was sentenced to one year (subsequently reduced to ten months) in prison and a hefty fine by the State Security Court of Diyarbakır for “incitement to hatred and hostility on grounds of religious discrimination”. His criminal act was that of reading two provocative verses from the poem “Divine Army” by Cevat Örnek (“the minarets are bayonets, the domes are helmets / mosques are our barracks, the faithful our soldiers”) during a rally of the Islamist Welfare Party (of “Strasbourg fame”) in 1997. Twenty-five years after the aforementioned rally, Turkey experienced a free speech case involving another conservative-leaning political figure on the rise: on 14 December 2022, İstanbul’s mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu was sentenced by İstanbul’s 7th Criminal Court of First Instance to a term of imprisonment of two years, seven months and fifteen days for criminal defamation. Continue reading >>
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An Institutional Crisis that Dissolved Like a Sugar Cube
In mid-December, Spain faced a constitutional logjam when judges blocked a government bill to change how the judiciary’s governing council, the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), operates. But when the situation seemed to be heading towards a serious institutional crisis, on 27 December, the CGPJ unanimously elected its two corresponding jurists. The crisis has dissolved without a trace, like a sugar cube in tea. But it has left a very bitter aftertaste. Continue reading >>
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Preserving Procedural Fairness in The AI Era
AI systems have been used and challenged by individuals affected by their output. In the absence of a regulatory framework, national courts in Europe have been called upon to address claimants’ demands for fairness and legal protection. While they have been activists in preserving individuals’ procedural rights by setting requirements for AI systems, the courts' role is, however, doomed to change when the AI Act enters into force. Continue reading >>
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03 January 2023
The Transfer of Ownership in the ‘Patagonia Case’
September 15th 2022 was a big day for the climate movement. The owner of Patagonia – a large multinational corporation producing wearables – transferred 98% of his shares (worth 3 billion dollars) to the newly established Holdfast Collective, a foundation aimed at fighting climate change. Are we at the dawn of a new type of capitalism, where profit is made to work for nature rather than against it? Continue reading >>Annexation is in the Details
The influx of news coming out of Israel these days renders it difficult to grasp the full scale and meaning of the constitutional and legal changes Israel is facing. In this blogpost, I wish to focus on one aspect of the upcoming changes, namely those that regard Israel’s control of the Occupied Territories. On December 28, 2022, Israel’s incoming Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, published an op-ed in the WSJ in which he argued, among other things, that the changes regarding the division of responsibilities concerning the Occupied Territories among Israeli bodies do not “entail changing the political or legal status of the area”. However, an examination of the changes included in the Coalition’s Basic Principles, published on December 12, 2022, and the coalitionary agreement between Netanyahu’s Likud Party and the Religious Zionist party, portrays a very different picture. Continue reading >>
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31 December 2022
Ukraine-Sondertribunal mit Legitimationsproblemen?
Der Ruf nach einem Sondertribunal für den russischen Angriffskrieg in der Ukraine wird auch hierzulande im politischen Raum lauter. Der Vorschlag geht auf eine Initiative um den britischen Völkerrechtler und Publizisten Philippe Sands zurück, der sich innerhalb kürzester Zeit eine Reihe prominenter Politiker/innen und Völker(straf)rechtler/innen angeschlossen haben. Bisweilen wird ein Vergleich mit dem Nürnberger Militärgerichtshof gezogen, der aber aus mehreren Gründen hinkt. Continue reading >>30 December 2022
The Theoretical Limits on the Override Power
In 2019, anticipating that Israel might one day adopt an express override mechanism that would enable the Israeli legislature (the Knesset) to override the Basic Laws (Israel’s Constitution), I developed a novel theoretical framework to limit the override power. With the new hard-right government, my theory might be tested in practice. I therefore want to make this theory available in English for international audiences. Continue reading >>
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Under Black Skies
Since the Indian state unilaterally abrogated the autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) in August 2019, human rights defenders (HRDs) have been confronted with an unprecedented closing of civic spaces, forcing them to restrict or stop their engagement. While HRDs have been subjected to state repression for more than 30 years since the onset of the 1989 insurgency in J&K, the developments in 2019 mark a turning point, both in strategy and methods employed by the Indian state. Continue reading >>
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29 December 2022
“Tuhindi Article” (“The Articles Were Yours”)
Through what was described with war-time imageries of a “constitutional surgical strike” and a “constitutional siege”, in August 2019 a radical change was made to what innocuously appeared earlier in the Constitution of India as Article 370. This blog post will attempt to problematise the use of the Indian constitutional framework in the engagement with Jammu and Kashmir. It will also hint towards an alternative role where the use of the Constitutional framework can, despite its limitations, make space for questions of self-determination, and contested sovereignties. Continue reading >>
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28 December 2022
Einmal im Kreis?
Selten hat ein amtsgerichtliches Urteil so viel Aufmerksamkeit erfahren, wie die Entscheidung des AG Flensburg zum rechtfertigenden Notstand eines Baumbesetzers. Jana Wolf hat das Urteil hier auf dem Verfassungsblog besprochen – und zwar bevor die Urteilsgründe vorlagen. Und die Richterin hat Jana Wolf gelesen und zitiert – und zwar in der Zeit der Abfassung der Urteilsgründe, also nach Urteilsverkündung. Das zeitliche Auseinanderfallen von Urteilsverkündung und Absetzen der schriftlichen Urteilsgründe ist strafprozessual ebenso üblich wie zulässig. Die zirkuläre Bezugnahme des Urteils auf eine Literaturquelle, die zum Zeitpunkt seiner Verkündung noch nicht existierte, regt allerdings zur Reflektion dieser Praxis vor dem Hintergrund strafprozessualer Anforderungen an. Continue reading >>
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Suppressing Political Dissent
The administrative preventive detention law Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978 (PSA) is one of the most stringent laws to uphold in what is referred to as the “security of the state and the public order.” For decades, thousands of Kashmiris have been incarcerated under this law for expressing political views contrary to official state narratives. Creating a state of exception where people are not ordinary criminals but extraordinary criminals who pose a threat to the national integrity of the Indian state, the PSA has stripped countless individuals of their basic rights. Continue reading >>
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24 December 2022
Фрагментарне реагування на загрозу свободі 3МІ в ЄС
Як відомо, шляхи польського та угорського урядів розійшлися щодо відповідей на російсько-українську війну. Однак на внутрішньому рівні обидві країни продовжують покладатися на схожі структурні зміни в медіа-середовищі, які допомагають їм впливати на виборців і підривають чесність виборів. Реакція ЄС на кризу свободи та плюралізму 3MI в Угорщині та Польщі була більш стриманою та якісно відрізнялася від реакції на кризу суддівської незалежності або загрози академічним свободам та правам меншин. Continue reading >>
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A fragmented response to media freedom at risk in the Union
The Polish and Hungarian governments have famously parted ways over responses to the Russo-Ukraine war. However, internally, both continue to rely on similar structural changes in the media environment that help them target voters and undermine elections fairness. The EU’s response to the media freedom and pluralism crisis in Hungary and Poland has been more restrained and also qualitatively different from its answer to the judicial independence crisis or threats to academic freedoms and minority rights. Continue reading >>
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23 December 2022
Несподівані ускладнення: вплив російського вторгнення в Україну на кризу верховенства права в ЕС
Якби наприкінці 2021 року мене запитали, які події визначатимуть кризу верховенства права в Європейському Союзі у 2022 році, я б відповів, що вибори в Угорщині стануть найвідповідальнішим моментом у боротьбі за цінності ЄС. 24 лютого 2022 року Володимир Путін зробив застарілими майже всі прогнози щодо європейської політики. Невиправдане, брутальне вторгнення Росії в Україну не лише зруйнувало понад 30-річну парадигму безпеки на континенті, але й мало масштабні наслідки для багатьох аспектів європейського життя, включаючи кризу верховенства права у двох державах-членах ЄС: Угорщині та Польщі. Continue reading >>
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Unexpected Complications: The impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on the rule of law crisis in the EU
If somebody had asked me in late 2021 what events would define the rule of law crisis in the European Union in 2022, I would have said that the elections in Hungary would be the most crucial moment for the struggle for EU values. On 24 February 2022, Vladimir Putin made almost all predictions concerning European politics obsolete. Russia’s unjustified, brutal invasion of Ukraine not only obliterated an over 30-year-old paradigm of security on the continent but also had massive ripple effects on many aspects of European life, including the rule of law crisis in two EU Member States: Hungary and Poland. Continue reading >>
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Ризик тунельного бачення у боротьбі з російською дезінформацією
Протиставлення кінетичної війни, яка розпочалася після повномасштабного вторгнення Росії в Україну 24 лютого 2022 року, та зіткнень у цифровому просторі показує, що обидві арени війни мали різні наслідки для країн-членів НАТО та ЄС. Якщо західні держави змогли значною мірою утриматися від фізичних бойових дій, обмеживши свою участь наданням зброї та військових матеріалів українським силам, то в цифровій сфері таке утримання виявилося неможливим. Continue reading >>
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The Risk of Tunnel Vision in Targeting Russian Disinformation
Contrasting the kinetic warfare that broke out after Russia’s full-fledged invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 with confrontations in the digital space shows that both war arenas came with different implications for NATO and EU member states. While Western powers were able to largely abstain from physical hostilities, limiting their involvement to providing weapons and military material to Ukrainian forces, in the digital sphere such abstention was not possible. Continue reading >>
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Das Ende verstaatlichter Asylrechtsberatung in Österreich?
Vor knapp zwei Jahren kam es zu einem der größten Systembrüche im österreichischen Asylwesen. Die Rechtsberatung von Flüchtlingen, die bis dahin von nichtstaatlichen Organisationen verantwortet war, wurde einer Bundesagentur unter entscheidendem Einfluss des Innenministers übertragen. Nun wird diese Konstruktion vom Verfassungsgerichtshof (VfGH) überprüft. Eine erste Einordnung. Continue reading >>
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22 December 2022
Ein Hoffnungsschimmer, aber kein grünes Licht für Vergesellschaftung Berliner Wohnungsunternehmen
Die Expert:innenkommission zur Beurteilung der Verfassungsmäßigkeit einer möglichen Vergesellschaftung bzw. Sozialisierung der in Berlin ansässigen Wohnungsunternehmen hat am 15. Dezember ihren ersten Zwischenbericht veröffentlicht. Schon eine Woche zuvor lag der Bericht mehreren Zeitungen vor und sorgte für entsprechende Schlagzeilen. Von Befürworter:innen wurde der Bericht bereits vor Veröffentlichung als „Zwischenerfolg“ gefeiert, die Kommission gebe „grünes Licht“ für Vergesellschaftungen. Das ist bei näherem Hinsehen aber nicht der Fall. Continue reading >>
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“We Know Where You Live”
"We know where you live" is one of the most dreaded and threatening statements a Kashmiri can hear from the state armed forces. It can mean a number of things to an ordinary Kashmiri, including “we have information on you” and “we are watching you”. It can also be perceived as an immediate threat to the life and safety of the person given the absolute impunity enjoyed by the state armed forces. Continue reading >>
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The Soviet Famine and Criminalising “Denialism”
The precedent set by international human rights law and the case law of European constitutional courts allows the exceptional criminalisation of Holocaust denial. But the same “exceptional” treatment does not apply to other events which may or may not consist of a “genocide, crime against humanity or a war crime”. Thus, EU Member States struggle to strike a balance between their obligations deriving from international human rights law and those deriving from EU law. Continue reading >>
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Much Ado About Nothing
On 15 December, the European Commission adopted a European Declaration on Digital Rights and Principles for the Digital Decade. It builds upon primary EU law instruments, and the question inevitably arises of what additional value and effect the Declaration may have. Continue reading >>
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Getting Ready
The accession of Ukraine to the EU would, like any other expansion, have profound implications on the Union’s institutions. Even putting aside the extraordinary circumstances of the accession process which started in the middle of a war, the accession of Ukraine would also raise relevant issues for the EU from a purely institutional perspective. The accession of Ukraine would, especially if taken together with Moldova and the countries of the Western Balkans, raise serious issues for the absorption capacity of the EU in all of its major institutions. Continue reading >>
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Готуємося
Потенційний вступ України до ЄС, як і будь-яке інше розширення, матиме глибокі наслідки для інституцій Союзу. Навіть якщо не брати до уваги надзвичайні обставини процесу вступу, який розпочався в розпал війни, вступ України до ЄС також поставив би перед ним актуальні питання з суто інституційної точки зору. Вступ України, особливо разом з Молдовою та (частково) країнами Західних Балкан, підніме серйозні питання щодо поглинальної спроможності ЄС в усіх його основних інституціях. Continue reading >>
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Як Європейське політичне спільнотовариство могло би сприяти вступу України до ЄС
Мало хто очікував, що президент Зеленський і його уряд навіть подумають про членство в ЄС на тлі лавиноподібного вторгнення російської армії. Паралельно з прискоренням вступу України ЄС шукав нові форми політичної співпраці для зміцнення своєї стійкості та забезпечення взаємної солідарності в часи страшної безпеки та економічної кризи в Європі. Європейське політичне співтовариство містить кілька важливих переваг, які Україна має враховувати під час процесу вступу до ЄС. Continue reading >>
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How the European Political Community Could Support the Accession of Ukraine to the EU
Very few people expected President Zelensky and his government to even think about EU membership amidst the avalanching invasion of the Russian army. In parallel with the accelerating speed of Ukraine’s accession, the EU was searching for new forms of political cooperation to strengthen its resilience and ensure mutual solidarity in times of intimidating security and economic crises in Europe. The European Political Community contains several important advantages to be considered by Ukraine against the backdrop of its accession process to the EU. Continue reading >>
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21 December 2022
Judicial Reform in Times of War
Russia launched its big war against Ukraine at a time when Ukraine has started implementing a comprehensive and genuine judicial reform. Ukraine has not only managed to resist the attack but also kept implementing the reforms and strengthening democratic institutions. This article describes the Ukrainian experience of the functioning of the judiciary and reforming judicial governance institutions during martial law times. Continue reading >>
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Судова реформа в умовах війни
Росія розпочала свою велику війну проти України в той час, коли Україна розпочала впровадження комплексної та справжньої судової реформи. Україна не тільки змогла протистояти нападу, але й продовжила реалізацію реформ та зміцнення демократичних інститутів. У цій статті описано український досвід функціонування судової влади та реформування інститутів суддівського врядування в умовах воєнного стану. Ключові уроки та успішні рішення можуть стати маяком для всього регіону. Continue reading >>
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On the Nexus between Separation of Powers and Judicial Power
This exercise in comparative constitutional law shows how, paradoxically, positioning a country on either side of the spectrum of separation of powers structures may lead to similar curtailment of the judiciary’s power, though courts in the two opposing regimes may use very different, and even opposing, judicial doctrines to reach similar non-interventionalist results. Moreover, though scholars typically study these common law judicial doctrines independently of one another, they are all a manifestation of how strong or weak the separation of powers in a given country is. Ultimately, the judicial branch may supplement, but not supplant, the democratically elected political branches, irrespective of the separation of powers in the country in question
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Санкційна дилема ЄС: як бути з союзником Росії – Білоруссю
Драматичні події, що відбуваються в Україні, та зростання загроз безпеці самого ЄС призвели до міні-революції в санкційній політиці ЄС. Тепер набір санкцій ЄС включає деякі нові заходи, такі як заборона трансляції, які раніше були на розсуд національних органів влади. Ці зміни поставили ЄС перед дилемою щодо його політики санкцій щодо Білорусі. Continue reading >>
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The EU sanctions dilemma of how to deal with the Russian ally Belarus
The dramatic events taking place in Ukraine and growing security threats to the EU itself led to a mini-revolution in the EU sanctions policy. Now the EU sanctions toolbox includes some novel measures, such as broadcast bans, which were previously under the discretion of national authorities. These changes put the EU in a dilemma with respect to its sanctions policy towards Belarus. Continue reading >>
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