Pirates of the Indian Ocean: Legal Base and Democratic Debate

Steve PeersDespite their central role in the world of EU law, legal base disputes often confound those outside the fairy-tale duchy of Luxembourg and the Brussels beltway, in particular when everyone agrees as to the substance of the issue concerned. And indeed, everyone agrees that the pirates in the Indian Ocean are a bad thing (except, presumably, the pirates themselves), and that the EU should establish (as it has done) a military action to combat...

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Want to be an EU citizen? Show me the money!

Steve PeersGive me your rich, your bored,Your pampered mistresses shopping duty-free,The randy playboys through our open doors.Send these, the chinless, party-goers to me,Come flash your cash inside our finest stores!We can only imagine whether Emma Lazarus, the author of the famous poem inscribed on the Statute of Liberty, would indeed have adapted her poem thus, in light of the sale of Maltese nationality (and hence, citizenship of the European...

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Holocaust denial and hate crime: Can the EU and its Member States do more?

Steve PeersThe European Commission has chosen today, the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, to release its first report on Member States' implementation of the EU Framework Decision on combating racism and xenophobia by means of criminal law.Implementing the EU legislation Member States had to implement this law, a relic of the pre-Lisbon 'third pillar' of EU law (setting out special rules on policing and criminal law measures) by December...

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The EU’s Financial Supervisory Authorities: Mind the Accountability Gap

Dr Marios Costa, Lecturer in Law, City Law SchoolIn 2010 we witnessed the establishment of three European Supervisory Authorities: the European Banking Authority; the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority; and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). They were set up by the Union as a response to the current, unprecedented financial crisis. The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) gave on 22 January 2014 a...

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Is readmission linked to development?

Steve PeersIn recent years, the EU has been negotiating Partnership and Cooperation Agreements (PCAs) with a number of Asian countries. These agreements replace the previous development policy agreements which the EU had with the countries concerned. Compared to the previous agreements, the PCAs include go into greater detail about the EU's cooperation with the countries concerned, including the addition of further topics for cooperation.Given the...

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Do potential asylum - seekers have the right to a Schengen visa?

By Steve PeersIn its recent judgment in Koushkaki, the Court of Justice clarified some key questions regarding the process of applying for a Schengen visa, in effect ruling that applicants have a right to a visa if they meet the necessary conditions. In doing so, it implicitly raised further questions about the grounds to refuse visa applications made by potential asylum-seekers. The judgment Mr. Koushkaki, an Iranian citizen living in Iran, applied...

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When is the family member of an EU citizen ‘dependent' on that citizen?

By Chiara Berneri, Lecturer at BPP Law SchoolOn the 16th of January 2014 the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) further clarified the circumstances under which a family member of an EU citizen who moves to another Member State can be considered a dependant within the meaning of the Directive on the free movement of EU citizens (Directive 2004/38, or the ‘citizens’ Directive’).The meaning of the word ‘dependant’ in the citizens’ Directive...

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Enforcing Previous Judgments of the Court of Justice

By Steve PeersThe Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) has recently delivered an interesting judgment concerning the so-called 'infringement procedure', which is the system for enforcing EU law directly in the EU courts. This system runs in parallel to the process of enforcing EU law via the national courts (see the previous post). The details are set out in Article 258 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which provides that...

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When does the EU Charter of Rights apply to private parties?

Steve PeersThe Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has today further clarified the circumstances in which the EU's Charter of Rights can be invoked against private parties. In Association de Mediation Sociale (AMS), trade unions challenged a private employer's refusal to establish worker consultation pursuant to an EU Directive. The employer had acted consistently with French law, which had implemented the EU Directive but allowed exclusions...

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