06 November 2025
Winning by Losing
The FCC has handed down its long-awaited decision in the Egenberger case. The decision seems to be a confirmation of the strong protection of religious communities’ corporate religious freedom and right to self-determination. At the same time, however, the FCC incorporated the standards set out in EU anti-discrimination law and CJEU’ jurisprudence. The decision is thus turning the page on a decades-long legal debate. It meaningfully protects the right to religious self-determination, and at the same time it is sensitive to the freedom of religion of individuals and the prohibition of discrimination. Continue reading >>
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03 November 2025
Sentient Companions Classified As Baggage
In Iberia (C-218/24), the Court of Justice held on 16 October 2025 that a passenger’s companion animal lost during international air carriage falls within “baggage” under Article 17(2) of the 1999 Montreal Convention. Accordingly, the liability cap under Article 22(2) applies. The ruling sidesteps both the ordinary-meaning consequence that “baggage” denotes objects and the EU legal context recognising animals as sentient beings. Finally, turning dogs into luggage neglects the social reality where the loss of companion animals foreseeably causes moral harm to their human guardians. Continue reading >>
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17 October 2025
Neutralising the Captured Court
In September 2025, the CJEU ruled in the AW ‘T’ (C-225/22) case on the status of decisions issued by the Chamber of Extraordinary Control. Already in its previous case law, in L.G. v KRS, the Court found preliminary references from that Chamber to be inadmissible. Moreover, in the W.Ż. case, the Court had already considered certain decisions as “null and void” under certain conditions. However, the new AW ‘T’ case broadens the applicability of the “null and void” sanctions which will be of great importance for the Polish efforts to address the consequences of the rule of law crisis. Continue reading >>
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14 October 2025
Hitting the Mark?
The Lex-CEU judgment clarified that Article 13 CFR protects both the individual and institutional dimensions of academic freedom. While democratic backsliding was clearly “at the heart of this case”, the judgment did not discuss democracy and the rule of law, at all. And despite considerable attention paid to the EU’s action for safeguarding the two EU values, academic freedom has not been methodically discussed in this context, either. Five years later, it is thus time for a systematic approach to academic freedom, treating it also as a democratic value. This can have potential consequences for its integration into the EU’s rule of law toolbox, as well. Continue reading >>
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15 September 2025
Litigating Over Independent Media
Since the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) fully entered into force on August 8, the key question is how far it can go in securing independent media. Beyond transparency rules and safeguards for editorial independence, Article 3 may establish a justiciable right to independent media – enabling individuals to challenge violations of media pluralism before national courts. Continue reading >>
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22 August 2025
The Next Episode On Gender-Based Asylum
One of the CJEU’s most talked-about recent cases asks a simple question: when does someone belong to a “particular social group” under EU refugee law? On 11 June 2024 in K, L v Staatssecretaris van Justitie en Veiligheid (K, L), the CJEU found that, women who genuinely came to identify themselves with the fundamental value of equality between women and men during their stay in the host country can be regarded as belonging to a particular social group. However, the implementation of the K, L judgment has led to a divergence between national policy and national courts over the meaning of “identification with the fundamental value of equality between women and men.” Continue reading >>
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17 July 2025
Copyright, AI, and the Future of Internet Search before the CJEU
With Like Company v Google, the first groundbreaking AI copyright case is now headed to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). In this case, a Hungarian press publisher challenges Google and its Gemini chatbot for reproducing and communicating its editorial content without authorisation. The Court’s decision will establish the legal framework for AI’s relationship with copyright and press publishers’ rights across the EU. It will potentially reshape how generative AI systems can or cannot lawfully access, process and reproduce journalistic and other protected content. This may even fundamentally affect the economic and technical architecture of future AI development. Continue reading >>
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03 July 2025
The Antagonistic Unity of Copyright and Freedom of the Arts
On 17 June 2025, Advocate General Emiliou delivered his opinion in the second referral of the German Federal Court of Justice (BGH) to the CJEU in the case “Pelham” – also known as “Metall auf Metall” (Case C-590/23). He defines “pastiche” – currently the most controversial concept of European copyright law – and makes a fundamental statement on EU copyright law and its relationship to freedom of the arts as guaranteed by Art. 13 CFR.The InfoSoc Directive, which is at the heart of EU copyright law, is too restrictive with regard to the artistic use of copyright-protected works and therefore not compatible with the Charter’s freedom of the arts. Emiliou’s opinion is a breakthrough. It grounds copyright in freedom of the arts and paves the way for a new perspective on the relationship between copyright and artistic freedom. Continue reading >>
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16 June 2025
Whose Values?
Value-based reasoning features prominently in CJEU case law, most recently in AG Ćapeta’s opinion in Commission v. Hungary. However, what is treated as absolute within the Union turns flexible and conditional in cases concerning asylum, integration, as well as anti-discrimination. A closer look at the “feminist” cases (WS, K and L, and AH and FN) reveals how “Western values”-centred reasoning is deployed at the Member State level and re-elaborated by the CJEU as the fundamental value of gender equality – opening the door to ideological reinterpretations. Continue reading >>
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26 May 2025
Hot Rule of Law Potatoes
Bulgaria’s civil society has much anticipated a key judgment by the CJEU as concerns over the entrenched capture and politicization of the Inspectorate with the Supreme Judicial Council (JI) continue to cast doubts about judicial independence and accountability in the country. Regrettably, however, the highly formalist ruling will hardly make a difference. Continue reading >>
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