12 June 2026
Rebuilding Hungary’s Civic Space
Hungary’s April 2026 elections that ended 16 years of Viktor Orbán’s autocratic rule have rightly generated urgent debate about constitutional repair. Beyond rebuilding the rule of law and democratic institutions, a successful transition will also need an engaged citizenry who value and trust these institutions and are eager to participate in public life. The transition therefore presents a critical opportunity to rebuild the legal, policy, and financial frameworks needed for an independent civil society to flourish. Achieving this requires a coherent package of legislative, institutional, and financial measures. Continue reading >>
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11 June 2026
Freedom of Speech at the FIFA World Cup 2026
On 11 June 2026, the FIFA World Cup hosted by Canada, Mexico and the USA will be launched by the opening match between Mexico and South Africa in the Estadio Azteca of Mexico City. Considering the current international context, in particular ongoing tensions and armed conflicts, it is likely that FIFA and the three host countries will also face certain incidents during this year’s tournament. In principle, the international sports movement, including FIFA, aims to be ideologically, politically, and religiously neutral, which can provoke tensions with players’ and fans’ legitimate activism. Continue reading >>
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03 June 2026
Normalising Lawlessness via Membership
The European Law Institute has recently welcomed Poland’s (compromised) Supreme Court and Supreme Administrative Court as its latest institutional members. Beyond this professional network, two judicial networks known as the Conference of European Constitutional Courts (CECC) and the Network of the Presidents of the Supreme Judicial Courts of the EU (NPSJC) have similarly failed – through inaction – to take account of CJEU and ECtHR rulings as regards their Polish members. This post will look at the negative spillover effects created by these networks’ membership (in)action. Continue reading >>01 June 2026
Crossing a Line in Plain Sight
On May 15, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe unanimously adopted a political Declaration on the ECHR at their annual session in Chișinău. What was adopted is more measured than the political statements that preceded it. But the underlying tension – driven by the demand of some states to pursue more restrictive migration policies without being constrained by the Convention – remains. By purporting to define what Convention guarantees substantively mean, the member states have crossed a line that no diplomatic phrasing can neutralise. Continue reading >>21 May 2026
Hungary’s European Rebirth
As Péter Magyar and his Tisza government took office on 9 May, ending sixteen long years of autocratic capture, the crowds outside the Parliament danced and cheered. Now the new government has a constitutional supermajority and a massive democratic mandate. But unlike Orbán’s supermajority, Magyar’s still has to confront veto players. The Hungarian government has a speedy and lawful option for realising its mandate without lurching into extreme scenarios: Using European law as an interim constitution to evade the roadblocks left in place by the Orbán government. Continue reading >>
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12 May 2026
Sex Workers in the Paris Senate
Legal frameworks for remunerated sexual services often reveal a weakness in our democracies: how to protect sex workers as a marginalized group without patronizing them. A bill recently introduced in the French Senate proposes to replace the current End-Demand legislation with full decriminalization. Drafted by a mixed group of interdisciplinary researchers and sex workers of different backgrounds, the bill tackles this weakness head-on – and turned out nuanced and detailed. Continue reading >>12 May 2026
Transitional Justice after Hybrid Regimes in Europe
Academic literature and international legal documents on transitional justice have concentrated on transitions from dictatorships or armed conflicts, while neglecting hybrid regimes. In such regimes, corruption, state-organised plunder of resources, and the gradual demolition of democracy and the rule of law during the ancien régime require exceptional transitional measures. Just as the questions of democracy and the rule of law are not binary, transitional measures after hybrid regimes should also be proportionate. In European cases, the case-law of the ECtHR is mostly relevant. Continue reading >>
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08 May 2026
But First, Implementation
Hungary's future Prime Minister Péter Magyar called on Chief Justice András Zs. Varga to resign, claiming that, together with the President of the Republic, the Prosecutor General, and other leaders of key state institutions, he is a “puppet” of Orbán’s regime. The claim to end Chief Justice Varga’s mandate is legitimate and the proper way to do so is by implementing the ECtHR's Baka judgment Continue reading >>
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26 March 2026
Hollowing Out Human Rights
In less than two months, the Council of Europe is set to consider the adoption of a Political Declaration intended at “rebalancing” the European Convention on Human Rights in immigration contexts. These developments have implications for the connected rights commitments made under the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement of 1998. If the 1998 Agreement’s rights commitments start from, and extend beyond, the ECHR rights, this cannot be reconciled with efforts to water down those rights and shackle the interpretive role of the Strasbourg Court. Continue reading >>
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04 March 2026
Narratives for Strategic Litigation
To make sense of the migration-related jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), scholars tend to identify a certain logic, story or direction in which the case law develops. My point here is not that a certain narrative is correct or another is wrong. Instead, I want to draw attention to the fact that, as Janna Wessels and Jürgen Bast have recently shown, there are three competing narratives, and that it is important to be aware of these – not only, but especially for actors engaged in strategic litigation. Continue reading >>
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