17 December 2020
The Inviolability of National Centrals Banks as a Matter of EU Law
National authorities have to be extremely cautious in their dealings with National Central Banks in national investigations. Given the role of those in EU law, and their place within the EU legal order, today's judgment of the European Court of Justice should be seen as a stern warning to investigative authorities of the Member States. They must engage with the applicable EU institutions, prior to seizing documents of National Central Banks. Continue reading >>
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04 December 2020
Sue and Let Sue
On member states taking member states to court, and other topical rule of law affairs Continue reading >>
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20 November 2020
The Commission’s Al Capone Tricks
In its judgement dealing with the Central European University, the CJEU had to employ a trick to address the rule of law issue at stake: It found that Hungary had violated the General Agreement on Trade in Services. The legal trick was succesful but in reality, the ruling came too late. The Central European University has moved to Vienna and will not return to Hungary. Continue reading >>
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18 October 2020
Constitutionalising the EU Foreign and Security Policy
In the appeal case of Bank Refah Kargaran v Council (C-134/19 P), the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has held that the EU Courts have jurisdiction over claims for damages in the area of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). This is coherent with the rationale of the exceptional exclusion of jurisdiction under CFSP and confirms that the Union’s commitment to the rule of law extends to CFSP. Continue reading >>16 October 2020
The Epochal Failure of the EU Commission
On Judge Beata Morawiec, the rampant sowjetization of the Polish judicial policy, and how it could come to all that. Continue reading >>
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08 October 2020
Finally: The CJEU Defends Academic Freedom
The CJEU’s judgment against Hungary in the CEU case is the first major judicial pronouncement by a European court on the institutional dimension of academic freedom as a fundamental human right. Infringement action has become the surprise weapon in the Commission’s rule of law toolbox. The initial surprise is a thing of the past: over the years the Hungarian government has built some defenses of its own, using familiar components of the European constitutional architecture in service of illiberal democracy. Continue reading >>22 June 2020
Defending the Open Society against its Enemies
On 18 June 2020, in the case of Commission v Hungary (Transparency of associations), the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice held that Hungarian authorities “introduced discriminatory and unjustified restrictions on foreign donations to civil society organisations” when it adopted a new legislation on NGO in 2017. How will the Hungarian government react? Six potential scenarios can be outlined from not doing anything (scenario 1) – an unlikely option due to the threat of pecuniary sanctions – to full and good faith compliance with the judgment resulting in the total repeal of the Lex NGO (scenario 6) – equally unlikely. Between these two, four additional ones may be foreseen. Continue reading >>
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29 May 2020
Unquestioned supremacy still begs the question
Earlier this week, 32 leading scholars of EU law and politics signed the statement that national courts cannot override CJEU judgments, in response to a demonstration by the BVerfG that it actually can. We share the signatories’ concern that Weiss might (and most probably will) be used as a pretext for refusing to comply with the CJEU’s rulings and the EU rule of law requirements in Member States such as Poland or Hungary. We are also critical of the conclusion to which the BVerfG arrived in its decision, though we accept some of its premises (i.e., that the national disapplication of EU acts may be justified in some rare and exceptional cases). However, even though we are not all constitutional pluralists, we take issue with some aspects of the reasoning behind the original statement and question the doctrinal and empirical arguments it invokes in favour of EU law’s unconditional supremacy. Continue reading >>26 May 2020
The European Court of Justice Enters a New Era of Scrutiny
Among the many unintended consequences of the PSPP judgment, the most unforeseen of all was to thrust the Court of Justice of the European Union into the limelight. All of a sudden, the media coverage is no longer limited to what the CJEU decides but how it decides and operates. Continue reading >>22 May 2020