Päivi Leino-Sandberg

Between European Commitment and ‘Taking the Law Seriously’

On 27 April 2021, the Constitutional Law Committee of the Finnish Parliament adopted its much-awaited opinion on the EU’s Own Resources Decision. It established that its approval requires a qualified majority and thus a significant bulk of votes from the opposition, which has been highly critical of the package. Now, for many MPs, the situation creates an impossible dilemma between their European commitment and taking the law seriously. Continue reading >>

Zoltán Fleck

After Orbán

With a view to the 2022 elections, there is a serious contradiction in Hungarian public opinion: There should be a regime change away from Orbán's Fidesz, but the Basic Law, which they have undermined and weaponized, should not be touched. This will not work. In any case, it is necessary to get rid of the present Hungarian constitution. Continue reading >>

Stefan Schlegel

Wo kein Normkonflikt, da kein Kompetenzkonflikt

Schon im Vorfeld des Entscheides des Bundesverfassungsgerichtes zum Mietendeckel vom 15. April ist darauf hingewiesen worden, dass dieser die Verzahnung von föderaler Kompetenzordnung und Tragweite des Grundrechtsschutzes offenlegen werde. Noch deutlicher wird diese Verzahnung im Vergleich mit einem höchstrichterlichen Verdikt zur Verfassungsmässigkeit einer kommunalen Volksinitiative zur Bremsung der Mietpreise in der Stadt Bern vom November 2019. Continue reading >>

Nerima Were, Allan Maleche, Tara Imalingat

COVID-19 in Kenya a Year Later: A Case of Déjà Vu

What began as a health crisis quickly morphed into an economic, human rights and governance upheaval. In March 2021, we came full circle as we saw a return to excessive law enforcement in the country on account of the third wave of the virus, which has led to a surge in the number of people testing positive and thrown the country back into a state of disarray as poorly resourced health facilities grapple with the influx of cases. Continue reading >>

Kristin Pfeffer

Wie europäisch wird deutsches Polizeirecht?

Das europäische Polizeirecht befindet sich inmitten eines Paradigmenwechsels. Während das Europarecht zunächst noch primär auf Polizeikooperation ausgerichtet war, lässt sich inzwischen eine zunehmende Vereinheitlichung des mitgliedstaatlichen Sicherheitsrechts beobachten. Nicht nur für den Grundrechtsschutz hat diese Entwicklung weitreichende Folgen. Auch auf politischer Ebene ist mit Gegenwind der Mitgliedstaaten gegenüber der fortschreitenden Harmonierung des innerstaatlichen Sicherheitsrechts zu rechnen. Continue reading >>

Beatrice Monciunskaite

The COVID-19 Crisis in Latvia

The government response to COVID-19 in Latvia can be characterised as one of legal caution. Even though successive states of emergency have been used to manage the crisis, adequate parliamentary and judicial oversight has resulted in broadly proportional handling of the pandemic. Continue reading >>

Dimitry Vladimirovich Kochenov, Aleksejs Dimitrovs

Solving the Copenhagen Dilemma

By proclaiming an entirely new ‘non-regression’ principle in EU law based on the connection between Articles 49 TEU (EU Enlargement) and 2 TEU (EU values, referred to from Art. 49), the Court of Justice achieved huge progress in addressing a well-known lacuna undermining the EU legal order. The ‘non-regression’ principle is a new important direction in the notable fight for the EU rule of law started with the discovery of EU competence in, in particular, the area of judicial independence and the organization of the judiciaries in the EU Member States. Continue reading >>

Tomasz Tadeusz Koncewicz

How the EU is Becoming a Rule-of-Law-less Union of States

The most recent attempt by Poland's executive to undermine the very foundations of the Union legal order speaks volumes about how far the politics of resentment have come since 2015. With the Constitutional Tribunal about to hand the government its desired excuse to ignore interim measures of the Court of Justice of the European Union, a point of no return might have been reached. This new phase sees the dismantling of the rule of law on the domestic front being reinforced, aided and abetted now by the legitimizing inaction and/or spineless bargaining at … the supranational level. The EU through its institutions is playing the game according to the rules dictated by the smart autocrats. Continue reading >>

Sebastian Kluckert

Infektionsschutzmaßnahmen in der Schnittmenge von Verwaltungsanordnung und Gesetzesbefehl

Dem rechtswissenschaftlichen Beobachter bietet sich bei infektionsschutzrechtlichen Maßnahmen mittlerweile das Bild einer völligen Austauschbarkeit der Handlungsformen Verwaltungsakt (Allgemeinverfügung), Rechtsverordnung und Parlamentsgesetz. Anordnungen, die als (konkret-generelle) Einzelfallregelungen beurteilt werden, wenn sie in einer Allgemeinverfügung stehen, finden sich inhaltlich identisch in Rechtsverordnungen und nunmehr auch im IfSG. Trotzdem liegt mit § 28b IfSG weder ein unzulässiger Übergriff des Bundesgesetzgebers in reservierte Exekutiv- oder Länderkompetenzen noch ein unzulässiges Einzelfallgesetz vor. Continue reading >>

Hanno Kube

A Relieving Decision

With its interim decision of 15 April 2021, the German Federal Constitutional Court has paved the way for ratification of the 2020 Own Resources Decision by the German side. At the same time, the Court shows that it will apply the well-known constitutional standards in the main proceedings, possibly – this is only a guess – concentrated on the ultra vires review, which allows the all-important dialogue with the ECJ to continue in the framework of a preliminary ruling procedure. Continue reading >>

Nika Bačić Selanec

COVID-19 and the Rule of Law in Croatia: Majoritarian or Constitutional Democracy?

The Croatian government has, much like any other, struggled to find an adequate response to the pandemic of COVID-19. “Dancing with the virus” for the last year entailed introducing, relaxing and re-introducing more or less stringent measures limiting constitutional rights and individual liberties based on epidemiologic developments and political priorities of the day, or season. The measures have ranged from almost a full lockdown in early 2020 when our numbers of infections were amongst the lowest ones in Europe, to a (far too) lenient regime during the tourist season in summer and fall 2020, when the budgetary, economic and political concerns prevailed over the need to address the serious worsening of our epidemiologic parameters. Even today, in the midst of the ‘third wave’, Croatia has quite a moderate set of measures. Continue reading >>

Jan Muszyński

Bad Tandem

With its ruling of 15 April 2021, the Polish Constitutional Tribunal willingly accepts the role of substitute lawmaker. The result is an inelegant, clumsy judgment that creates more problems than it solves. The Constitutional Court as the executor of the parliamentary majority destroys not only its reputation but also the purpose of the negative legislator. In the case of the Commissioner for Human Rights, the solution of a political problem is once again transferred to the Constitutional Court. Continue reading >>

Maria Ela L. Atienza

The Philippines a Year under Lockdown

The Philippines have one of the longest lockdowns in the world in response to COVID-19. This post reviews the past year, focusing on the main legal and political issues as well as prospects in the country with the second highest total number of COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia. Continue reading >>

Holger Grefrath

Die ‘Bundesnotbremse’ ist nicht zustande gekommen

Aller Orten war in den letzten Tagen von der mutmaßlichen materiellen Verfassungswidrigkeit des neuen § 28b IfSG, der „Bundesnotbremse“ zu lesen und zu hören. Angesichts der großen Aufmerksamkeit muss verwundern, dass die offenkundige formelle Verfassungswidrigkeit der Norm bislang nicht thematisiert wurde. Bei der „Bundesnotbremse“ handelt es sich um ein gleich in zweifacher Hinsicht zustimmungsbedürftiges Gesetz, dem die Zustimmung des Bundesrats fehlt und das daher nicht gemäß Art. 78 GG zustande gekommen ist. Continue reading >>

Mariela Morales Antoniazzi

Paving the Way for Equitable Access to Vaccination

The global and regional distribution of COVID-19 vaccines has become one of the biggest geopolitical issues in the fight against the pandemic. On April 7, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights published its Resolution 1/2021 “COVID-19 Vaccines and Inter-American Human Rights Obligations.” As it looks back on more than one year of health crisis and its multiple effects over all spheres of life, the Resolution addresses the urgency of ensuring rapid immunization throughout the Americas. Continue reading >>

Julia Emtseva

Sanctioning the Treatment of Uighurs in China

China has been accused by various states of committing genocide against the Uighurs and other Muslim communities in recent months. Against this background, in March 2021, the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Canada announced sanctions against the Asian hegemon. Qualifying individual targeted sanctions remains a challenge for international lawyers due to the lack of clear demarcation between sanctions framework and the country-specific restrictive measures. Nevertheless, individual sanctions remain a viable option to pressure violators but alone might not be strong enough to deliver justice to victims. Continue reading >>

Jacques Ziller

The Conseil d’Etat refuses to follow the Pied Piper of Karlsruhe

The Conseil d’Etat categorically rejected the proposal that the courts of the member states, in particular their supreme (or constitutional) courts, would be entitled to review an "ultra vires" of the European institutions. The wording of the judgment is an implicit acknowledgement that there is a monopoly of the EU Court of Justice in the authentic interpretation of the Treaty - unlike the German Federal Constitutional Court in the Weiss case and the doctrine of constitutional identity and protection of national security. Continue reading >>

Rasha Al Saba, Samrawit Gougsa

COVID-19, Minorities, and Indigenous peoples: The Litmus Test of Equality

The disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on minorities and indigenous peoples across the globe has been well documented. Individuals from these communities have been infected at a greater rate, are more likely to die after contracting the disease and now risk being at the back of the queue in national vaccination programmes. Our work has focussed on a number of elements of this phenomenon, including a study of the disproportionate burden of Covid-19 on the most marginalized communities worldwide, and the ways that members from these communities have been pushed into forced labour as a result of the pandemic. Continue reading >>

Martin Nettesheim

Greatness and Tragedy

The "Next Generation EU" project (NGEU) will lead to a fundamental change in the architecture, political structure, and “finalité” of the integration process. In its scope and depth, it is even comparable to the Maastricht reform. Against this background, should and could the German Federal Constitutional Court (BVerfG) step in to protect Germany´s "constitutional identity"? Continue reading >>

Anthony Hooper, Tilman Hoppe, José Igreja Matos

To Trust is to Choose

Countries where state institutions are perceived as corrupt all share a similar dilemma: Why should citizens trust a candidate for public office who was selected by a state body which citizens simply don’t trust? In light of this dilemma, Ukraine came up with an innovative mechanism: Giving international experts a decisive role in selecting candidates for public office. Continue reading >>

Eglè Dagilytė, Aušra Padskočimaitė

Lithuania’s Two COVID-19 Quarantines

The coronavirus pandemic posed an unprecedented challenge for the Lithuanian society and the decision-makers. Lithuania’s response to the disease was overseen by two different governments - a populist centre-left government in spring 2020 and a liberal-centre-right coalition formed after the 2020 October parliamentary elections. Since Lithuania’s approach to the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic including its legal/constitutional framework has already been addressed, the present analysis will focus on the second quarantine as well as on some overarching issues concerning the rule of law, human rights and good governance. Continue reading >>

Marcin Matczak

And Now His Watch Is Ended

When democratic institutions are captured by an authoritarian government, they not only cease to hold the government accountable, or even restrain its megalomaniacal tendencies, but can be actively used to capture other democratic institutions. This was recently the case in Poland, as the ruling "Law and Justice" party removed a particularly annoying irritant: the Polish Citizens’ Rights Ombudsman, Dr. Adam Bodnar. Continue reading >>

Manon Julicher, Max Vetzo

COVID-19 in the Netherlands: of Changing Tides and Constitutional Constants

Along with Covid, the Government’s response, and the growing public unrest, came a continuing string of constitutional questions and developments, that is unlikely to diminish anytime soon. Building on the abovementioned Verfassungsblog post, we will discuss the main constitutional Covid-19 highlights, largely chronologically. Throughout we will pay particular attention to three recurring and interrelated themes: the evolving role of Parliament in shaping the political and legal response to Covid-19, the relevance and varying intensity of judicial control in pandemic times, and the omnipresence of fundamental rights concerns. Continue reading >>

Christina D. Ponsa-Kraus

The Battle Over Puerto Rico’s Future

Puerto Rico’s future is on the agenda in Congress. Last week, the House Committee on Natural Resources held a contentious hearing on two competing bills addressing Puerto Rico’s status. Why two competing bills? Why the dramatically different alternative to the one backed by Puerto Rico’s sole representative in Congress? Understanding the profound divide these bills embody requires understanding the constitutional controversy that has long been at the core of Puerto Rico’s status debate – and the crisis of identity that drives it. Continue reading >>

Dilek Kurban

How Many Times Can the ECtHR Turn its Head

In the ruling Ahmet Hüsrev Altan v. Turkey of 13 April, the European Court of Human Rights did not find an ulterior motive in the prolonged pre-trial detention of a journalist in Turkey. The Court also refused to find “pattern and tendency” in the treatment of civil society and independent journalism in Turkey. This approach is not limited to Article 18 case law: The Court’s entire jurisprudence on Turkey lacks systematic analysis. Continue reading >>

Mathieu Leloup

Repubblika: Anything new under the Maltese Sun?

By now, the rule of law and the principle of judicial independence are a continuous presence in the ECJ’s case law. Most often, these cases concerned the situation in Poland or Hungary. The case of Repubblika, for a change, concerned Malta. In Repubblika, the Court has added Article 49 TEU to the list of EU law provisions that are invoked in the fight against rule of law backsliding. Continue reading >>

Wen-Chen Chang, Chun-Yuan Lin

Legislative/Judicial Deference versus NGOs/Citizens Activism: Taiwan’s Successful Fight Against Covid-19

Except for a minor hospital cluster infection in late January 2021, there has been no sign of community spreading. Compared to what has been going on globally with three million death, Taiwan’s control of Covid-19 pandemic is a miraculous success, particularly given its barred access to the World Health Organization and its geographic proximity and economic close ties with China. Notably, this success has been achieved without issuance of any emergency order for lockdowns, shelter in place, business closure, or school suspension. People’s daily lives have been kept without substantial interruption. Because of this, Taiwan’s legal and regulatory responses with the Covid-19 pandemic was praised as the least restrictive in the world. Continue reading >>

Diana Sanabria, Daniel Schönfelder

Recognising Nuances

This week, the German Parliament is beginning its debate on the cabinet draft for a national Due Diligence Act (Sorgfaltspflichtengesetz). Critics of Germany’s initiative often claim that it would run counter to the development interests of the Global South. This, however, not only ignores strong development policy arguments in favour of human rights due diligence (HRDD) regulation but also the fact that several countries in the Global South are calling for similar obligations or have already created them. In particular, Germany may learn valuable lessons from the Colombian Constitutional Court’s recent case law which has created meaningful HRDD obligations for companies as well as from a draft for a Mexican Due Diligence Act. Continue reading >>

Vladimir Bogoeski

Harvesting injustice

Seasonal migrant farmworkers have been one of the most vulnerable worker categories during the pandemic and yet essential for food security. In Germany, an ongoing proposal by the Government seeks to extend the duration of the general exemption of seasonal migrant workers from social security requirements, threatening to uphold workers’ vulnerability and further exacerbate precariousness. Continue reading >>

Zemelak Ayele, Yonatan Fessha

COVID-19 in Ethiopia: A Year in Review

Covid-19’s arrival in Ethiopia was especially inopportune, coming as it did when the country was at a political crossroads and the federation under heavy strain as a result of unprecedented intergovernmental disputes. Covid-19 emerged just two years after the three year public protests which began soon after the 2015 elections in which the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), the ruling coalition until 2019, claimed 100% victory. The public protests led to a political division within the party resulting in the coming to power of Abiy Ahmed who re-configured the party. Continue reading >>

Nora Markard, Eva Maria Bredler

Jeder schweigt für sich allein

Am 3. April ist endlich das Gesetz gegen Rechtsextremismus und Hasskriminalität in Kraft getreten. Vorfrage und Grundlage dieser rechtlichen Regelung ist die verfassungsrechtliche Abwägung, die es überhaupt erst erlaubt, eine Meinungsäußerung unter Strafe zu stellen – oder gar, noch weitergehend, eine Pflicht zu etablieren, Meinungsäußerungen an die Strafverfolgungsbehörden zu melden. In dieser Abwägung zwischen Meinungsfreiheit und würdebasiertem Persönlichkeitsrecht bildet jedoch die Gleichheit, die bei der beleidigenden Hassrede eine große Rolle spielt, eine seltsame Leerstelle. Continue reading >>

Karl-Heinz Ladeur

Tatsachen, Meinungen und das Mitspracherecht des Hauses Hohenzollern

Die Restitutionsansprüche, die das Haus Hohenzollern gegen den Bund und das Land Brandenburg stellt, sorgen seit Monaten für heftigen Streit – unter Historikern, unter Juristen und in der Öffentlichkeit. Auf einem Nebenkriegsschauplatz dieser Debatte, der allerdings für Meinungs- und Forschungsfreiheit der beteiligten Wissenschaftler von einiger Tragweite ist, hat im Februar das Landgericht Berlin ein Urteil gefällt und jetzt die Begründung dazu veröffentlicht. Das LG Berlin ordnet eine Äußerung des Historikers Winfried Süß als „Tatsachenbehauptung“ ein. Das ist weder im Ergebnis noch methodisch überzeugend. Continue reading >>

Thomas Ackermann

Der Föderalismus als Verlierer

Besteht die Ausschlusswirkung der Bundesgesetzgebung nur in der Negierung einer landesrechtlichen Gestaltung, die der Bund aufgrund regionaler Differenzen nicht selbst treffen könnte, fehlt jeder Bezug zur Föderalismusidee und entsteht allein eine Spielwiese für opportunistisches Verhalten, die den Bundesstaat diskreditiert. Hier besteht Anlass, dem Bund eine Grenze zu setzen. Continue reading >>

Karsten Schubert

Defending Plurality

Academic freedom is under attack, both in authoritarian democracies, such as Hungary and Turkey, and in liberal Western democracies, such as the United States, the UK, France and Germany. However, dominant discourses about academic freedom and free speech in the global north, lately especially in France and Germany, focus on an alleged threat to academic freedom through "political correctness" and "cancel culture", that, under scrutiny, often turn out to be exactly the opposite, namely defences of plurality and critical voices. Continue reading >>

Dean R Knight

New Zealand: Rendering Account During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Just over a year since the first outbreak in New Zealand, we cast our eye back and reflect on the government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Without question, the response is a study in the wonders of modern government, given the magnitude of the threat, the different dimensions of community wellbeing at stake and different parts of government involved in the response. Public health guidance, clinical health care, economic support and stimulus, social welfare and support, border security and surveillance. The list goes on.... Continue reading >>

Asylai Akisheva

Women’s Rights in the New Kyrgyz Constitution

On April 11, 2021, Kyrgyzstan held a referendum on the adoption of 81 amendments to its Constitution, which almost amounts to an entirely new Constitution. Setting aside all the numerous procedural violations of the constitutional law, in conjunction, the separate provisions of the new Constitution risk becoming a regressive tool that could suppress the position of women in Kyrgyzstan. Continue reading >>