23 September 2025
Is Something Better Than Nothing?
On 11 September 2025, AG Ćapeta delivered her Opinion in Aucrinde, the very first case to reach the Court on the interpretation of the Recast Evidence Regulation since it became applicable in July 2022. While touching upon several issues, one remark stands out: the AG cited the non-fulfilment of the two-step test from criminal judicial cooperation as a reason for the requested court to execute the foreign order. This passage might signal the first migration of the two-step test to civil judicial cooperation, potentially strengthening fundamental rights safeguards, but also carrying risks given its complexity and inherent logic. Continue reading >>
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05 November 2024
The Tail That Wags the Dog
In Opinion 2/13 the Court of Justice held that accession to the ECHR must not interfere with the operation of the principle of mutual trust as this would affect the autonomy of EU law. I offer a different reading: mutual trust is not a general principle capable of having autonomous legal effects. Furthermore, mutual trust is acquiring a novel value for the progressive operationalisation of the foundational values ex Article 2 TEU. Read in this way, it has then the potential to enhance fundamental rights protection and is certainly no bar to accession to the ECHR – it is the dog of core values that wags the tail of mutual trust and not vice versa. Continue reading >>
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17 October 2024
Fundamental Rights Score a Goal
Amid the significant number of rulings delivered by the ECJ on 4 October 2024, the long-awaited judgment pitting football against the media stands out. In Real Madrid vs Le Monde, the Court held that excessive defamation damages may breach the freedom of the press and trigger the public policy exception under Brussels Ia Regulation concerning recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. In doing so, the ECJ allowed national courts to conduct a substantive review of foreign judgments despite the principle of mutual trust, to ensure the enforcement of fundamental rights across the EU. Continue reading >>
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