Summaries of judgments made in collaboration with the Portuguese judge and référendaire of the CJEU (Nuno Piçarra and Sophie Perez)   Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 21 December 2023, L.G. (Continued holding of a judicial office), Case C‑718/21 ,EU:C:2023:1015 Reference for a preliminary ruling – Article 267 TFEU – Concept of ‘court or tribunal’ – Criteria – Izba Kontroli Nadzwyczajnej i Spraw Publicznych (Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs) of the Sąd Najwyższy (Supreme Court, Poland) – Reference for a preliminary ruling from a panel of judges without the ..read more

Bruna Barbosa (Master in European Union Law by UMinho)             The outbreak of new conflicts in the vicinity of Europe highlighted its dependence on the United States (US) in terms of security and defence. However, the redefinition of the US geopolitical strategy has resulted in a gradual reduction of its investments in Europe. This is driven by a shift in US geostrategic priorities to regions far from Europe, such as the Indo-Pacific, due to the emergence of new powers, including China. This circumstance demands a more active appr ..read more

Pedro Petiz Viana (Master in Law and Informatics from UMinho / LL.M. in European Law from Leiden University / EU Affairs Advisor in the Portuguese Parliament)             Under Articles 258 and 260(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), and in accordance with the principle of sincere cooperation laid down in Article 4(3) of the Treaty on European Union (TEU), Member States have the obligation to notify the European Commission of the national measures transposing a Directive. As affirmed by the Court of Justic ..read more

Inês Neves (Lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Porto | Researcher at CIJ | Member of the Jean Monnet Module team DigEUCit)             March 2024: a significant month for both women and Artificial Intelligence In March 2024 we celebrate women. But March was not only the month of women. It was also a historic month for AI regulation. And, as #TaylorSwiftAI has shown us,[1] they have a lot more in common than you might think. On 13 March 2024, the European Parliament approved the Artificial Intelligence Act,[2] a European Unio ..read more

By the Alessandra Silveira On inferred personal data and the difficulties of EU law in dealing with this matter The right not to be subject to automated decisions was considered for the first time before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in the recent SCHUFA judgment. Article 22 GDPR (on individual decisions based solely on automated processing, including profiling) always raised many doubts to legal scholars:[1] i) what a decision taken “solely” on the basis of automated processing would be?; ii) would this Article provide for a right or, rather, a general prohibition who ..read more

Valentina Faggiani (Associate Professor of Constitutional Law at University of Granada)             The trend towards the externalisation of migratory policy has been reaffirmed in the recent Italy–Albania Protocol, whose objective is to institute a new model. This Protocol aims at intervening to overcome a real problem: the systemic crisis of asylum that Italy is suffering. The idea that inspires it and the scheme are clear and have some original profiles: if the situation in the reception centres in Italy is unsustainable, why not tr ..read more

Summaries of judgments made in collaboration with the Portuguese judges and référendaire of the General Court (Maria José Costeira, Ricardo Silva Passos and Esperança Mealha)   Judgment of the General Court (First Chamber, Extended Composition), 15 November 2023, Case T-193/22, OT v Council of the European Union Facts Following the military aggression perpetrated by the Russian Federation (‘Russia’) against Ukraine on 24 February 2022, the Council of the European Union (‘the Council’) adopted several acts by which it added the applicant’s name to the lists of persons, entities and bodie ..read more

By the Editorial Team The Editorial Board is happy to announce that a new issue of the UNIO – EU Law Journal is now online. The 9(2) issue of UNIO includes contributions from various highly respected scholars and young academics and addresses issues such as i) regulation and governance of artificial intelligence; ii) the European data market; iii) the influence of European Union personal data protection standards in Latin America; iv) decentralised energy production and its intersection with the right to the city and environmental, climate, and energy-related concerns; v) the European ..read more

By the Editorial Team The Autumn Eurobarometer and the expectations of European citizens The Eurobarometer is an instrument used by the institutions of the European Union (EU) to find out and assess the state of European public opinion. Strictly speaking, it is a method of collecting public perceptions, like a survey or poll. Naturally, it focuses on issues and problems that directly concern European integration, but it also covers issues that are relevant from a political, economic, and social point of view. It is a kind of “pulse measuring” of the EU and its citizens. The rigour of the ..read more

Inês Neves (Lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Porto | Researcher at CIJ | Member of the Jean Monnet Module team DigEUCit ) and Rita Ferreira Gomes (Associate at Morais Leitão)             Setting the scene From 2020 onwards, migration and asylum have been central to both national and European Union (‘EU’) political agendas. 2023, however, was key and ended with major challenges for 2024. By the end of 2023, the European Parliament and the Council had reached a political agreement on several key proposals included in the (New ..read more