The Calais crisis: which Member State is responsible?

Steve PeersSeveral thousand migrants are living in poor conditions near Calais, many apparently intent on making it to the UK. Their attempts to find passage via the Eurotunnel are severely delaying travel on both sides of the border. Which country is responsible for them: the UK or France? At the outset, we should note that this is in a way a clash between two different types of movement within the EU. On the one hand, we have the free movement...

Read More

National parliaments and the “Five Presidents’ Report’: The long road towards the democratization of EMU

Ton van den Brink, Associate Professor, University of UtrechtThe recent ‘Five Presidents’ Report’ contains far-reaching proposals to deepen the EU’s Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), which have been analyzed here. These proposals also have far reaching consequences for national parliaments. The much needed democratization of the EMU requires national parliaments to be assigned with stronger rights than the proposed intensification of ‘dialogues’.What...

Read More

When all the people in a district are victims of race discrimination: CJEU ruling in CHEZ v Nikolova

Simon Cox, lawyer at the Open Society Justice Initiative* Last week’s CJEU judgment in C-83/14 CHEZ v Nikolova shows the important role of the CJEU to advance the struggle of Roma communities against systematic discrimination by businesses and Governments. Moreover, the Grand Chamber ruling on equal treatment establishes a powerful tool for districts marginalized by powerful actors.The case is a great example of how the CJEU can empower lower...

Read More

Institutional balance and the negotiation of international agreements

Andrés Delgado Casteleiro, Lecturer at Durham Law SchoolIntroductionIn last Thursday’s judgment on the Case C-425/13, Commission v Council, the CJEU was asked to determine the scope of the Council’s powers to issue negotiating directives to the Commission and the role of the special committee overseeing the Commission during the negotiations with Australia concerning the linking of its emissions trading system with the EU.  The case concerns...

Read More

Slipping through our fingers: the CJEU rules on the value of parenthood in EU law

Steve PeersThe vast bulk of EU legislation and case law on sex discrimination aims to facilitate women’s access to employment, and their equal treatment within the workplace. Yesterday’s CJEU ruling in Maistrellis approaches these issues from an unusual angle: the access of a father to parental leave, in a case where the mother of his children was not working or seeking paid work at all. The judgment raises interesting questions about the role that...

Read More

Divorce and free movement law: a problematic CJEU judgment

Steve PeersYesterday’s CJEU ruling in Singh addresses an important issue: What happens when a marriage between an EU citizen (who has moved to another Member State) and a non-EU citizen ends, after the EU citizen has already left that Member State? The EU Citizens’ Directive contains rules on both issues (divorce and departure), but those rules appear to conflict with each other nearly as much as divorcing couples do. Unfortunately the...

Read More