Category: European Law

European states are involved in a variety of informal groups and alliances, such as the “Quint” composed of France, Germany, Italy the United Kingdom and the United States. Drawing on new research, Maria Giulia Amadio Viceré highlights the important role these groups play in steering EU foreign policy. Day after day, as the international environment…

Read More “What can informal groups in EU foreign policy tell us about the survival of the EU?” »

How can tax incentives and penalties drive international investment to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals? Finding the right balance using these fiscal tools could optimise their impact. In September, the 2024 UN Summit of the Future will stress the urgent need for international collaboration if we want to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals…

Read More “The importance of international investment law in driving sustainable development” »

The European Union has warned that it will “respond with all measures at its disposal” if the UK goes ahead with a plan to unilaterally rewrite the most contentious part of their Brexit agreement, sparking fear of a trade war. How did the two sides once again end up at loggerheads and what is the…

Read More “The Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland: The Current Stalemate” »

Why are German Wills often successfully challenged and voided? As in most jurisdictions, a German Last Will can be challenged if the testator, at the time of making the Will, (i) lacked mental capacity (in German: if he or she was “testierunfähig”); or (ii) was under undue influence, e.g. pressured or threatened (“bedroht”); or (iii)…

Read More “Probate Litigation in Germany – How to Challenge a Will” »

In its judgment of 16 February 2021 in Hanan v Germany, [1] the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (‘the ECtHR’) confirmed that the European Convention on Human Rights (‘the ECHR’) applies extraterritorially to the conduct of armed forces deployed abroad by Contracting States. The case thus presents important findings on the question…

Read More “Hanan v Germany and the extraterritorial application of the ECHR to the conduct of Contracting States’ armed forces deployed abroad” »

Brazilian firm Mattos Filho reports that, on August 23, 2024, the Brazilian Data Protection Authority (“ANPD”) published Resolution No. 19/2024, approving the Regulations on International Data Transfers (“Regulations”) and the content of standard contractual clauses in accordance with the Brazilian Data Protection Law (Law No. 13,709/2018 – “LGPD”). The Regulations are the result of a…

Read More “Brazilian Data Protection Authority Regulates International Data Transfers” »

In two blog posts (here, here) I have commented on the recognition of professional qualifications between the EU and UK post-Brexit. Yet to be described and reflected upon, however, is the more general scheme of legal regulation of the recognition of professional qualifications which applies to third-country nationals coming to the EU, be they regular,…

Read More “Recognition of Professional Qualifications of Migrants at Work in the EU: Part I” »

On March 11, 2024, an ICSID arbitral tribunal (Juan Fernández-Armesto (President), Wendy Miles, Alexis Mourre), rendered an award in Encavis AG and Others v. Italy. The controversy follows some other 14 disputes initiated by EU investors against the Italian State under the Energy Charter Treaty (“ECT”) (some of these discussed here) and falls into the…

Read More “Encavis AG and Others v. Italy, Yet Another Award in the Italian Renewable Energy Saga” »

On 12 April 2024, the Council adopted two key directives enhancing sanctions enforcement and implementation across the EU. The first directive on sanctions violations criminalisation (Directive (EU) 2018/1673) establishes an EU-wide definition of sanctions violation as a crime, setting minimum administrative and criminal penalties, while the second directive on asset recovery and confiscation lays down…

Read More “Council Approves Two Directives on Sanctions Violation Criminalisation and Asset Recovery and Confiscation” »

Overall, secession within the EU,  triggers the repositioning of the relevant subject of EU law within the European constitutional landscape. This is why there has always been a question about how the EU may treat such constitutional events. For instance, Weiler has famously suggested that the EU should not and/or would not admit independent States…

Read More “Secession in the EU multi-level constitutional order — On Secessions, Constitutions and EU law” »