04 September 2025
The Feasibility of Security Guarantees for Ukraine
The question of possible security guarantees is at the heart of current efforts to end the war against Ukraine. White House special envoy Steve Witkoff stated on 17 August 2025 that “the United States and other European nations could effectively offer Article 5-like language to cover a security guarantee,” which would serve as a trade-off for Russia’s insistence that Ukraine should not be able to join NATO. This has brought the term “Article 5-like protection” into focus. The feasibility of such a guarantee appears impossible given legal and practical obstacles. Russia is demanding untenable concessions from Ukraine in exchange for its consent. The prospect of a credible deterrent is also missing, which is why the entire process appears to be the Russians playing for time. Continue reading >>
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17 June 2023
Erdogan’s Wish List Come True?
On 1 June 2023, the new Swedish anti-terrorism legislation entered into force whose primary novelty is the criminalization of membership in terrorist groups. While it thereby aligns Swedish counter-terrorism law with the EU 2017 Counter-terrorism Directive, the move has been controversial for several reasons. In particular, the legislation is widely seen as an attempt to win Erdogan’s support for Sweden’s still pending NATO application. This, in turn, has raised concerns that the new law is exceeding what is required by the Directive. Continue reading >>
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20 July 2022
The Government versus the President
A few days ago, the Georgian government filed a constitutional complaint against the President of Georgia to the Constitutional Court. Many in Georgia, and not only in Georgia, think that the government is trying to curtail the powers of the president and punish the president for her pro-European political activities. What is interesting in this context is how strong the government's legal positions really are. Continue reading >>16 May 2022
A Swedish NATO Membership and Its Constitutional Barriers
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the debate about a possible NATO membership in Sweden has been intense. The ruling Social Democratic Party was against a membership for a long time, but on Sunday 15 May it changed its position. Now everything points to a Swedish NATO accession and it seems likely that the constitutional barriers for that are surprisingly low: parliamentary approval with a simple majority vote. Continue reading >>
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13 April 2022
Neutrality and the Irish Constitution
Ireland, like other neutral states, has witnessed intense debates in recent weeks over the future of its neutral status. Ireland is not a member of NATO and has maintained an ambiguous status of ‘neutrality’ since independence. However, neutrality as such is not a constitutional requirement, and insofar as it obtains at all, has more the character of a policy or tradition. Departures from that tradition – particularly the joining of NATO – would nonetheless likely encounter certain constitutional barriers. In particular, it seems likely that membership of NATO would require a constitutional referendum. Continue reading >>18 February 2022
Would Ukraine Breach its own Constitution if it Dropped its NATO Bid?
Among the many issues discussed in the context of the current Russian threat of aggression against Ukraine, Ukraine’s NATO aspirations and Russian opposition to it joining this organization is prominent. Some may think that dropping these aspirations might help avoiding a disastrous war. This, however, is no longer just a matter of political will but of constitutional law. Continue reading >>
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07 June 2018