Call For Submissions – European Law Blogger Prize 2024 The Editorial Board of the European Law Blog is pleased to announce its first European Law Blogger Prize to celebrate the launch of its new website at beginning of September 2024. The €300 prize will be awarded to the early-career author of the best blog post submitted between 1 September and 1 December 2024. Any accepted submission will be published on a rolling basis. We welcome engaging, well-written and well-researched blog contributions on current developments in EU law. The Blog considers ‘early-career scholars’ as LLM and docto ..read more

Blogpost 37/2024 The industry has tricked us; Scientists and regulators have failed us. AI is developing not individually (as humans become individuals) but collectively. A huge collective hive to collect, store and process all of humanity’s information; a single entity (or a few, interoperability as an open issue today as their operation itself) to process all our questions, wishes and knowledge. The AI Act that has just been released ratifies, for the moment at least, this approach: EU’s ambitious attempt to regulate AI deals with it as if it was simply a phenomenon in need of better organis ..read more

Blogpost 36/2024 This blogpost is dedicated to legal questions arising from the ongoing ‘coalition crisis’ in Austria, following Environment Minister Leonore Gewessler’s decision to vote in favour of the Regulation on Nature Restoration despite the opposing will of Austria’s Chancellor Karl Nehammer and 7 out of 9 Regional Governments(Bundesländer). While Nehammer is of the opinion that this violates Austrian constitutional law (‘The constitution applies to climate activists as well.’) and has filed an abuse of office complaint, the question arises if the announced action for annulment before ..read more

Blogpost 35/2024 Disclosure: the author was a member of the Applicant’s counsel team   Introduction This post concerns a question which ought to be of concern to all who practise in or study EU law:  does the EU administrative law acquis provide the Union’s courts with the tools they need to supervise the exercise of Union power across a range of competences which were simply not in contemplation at the time the acquis was developed?  There are two prompts for this post. The first prompt is Joana Mendes’ recent (European Constitutional Law Review. 2022;18(4):706-736) and persuas ..read more

Blogpost 34/2024 After years of anticipation, the final text of the Artificial Intelligence Act (‘the Act’) was approved by the Council on May 21st of this year. The landmark regulation, first of its kind, positions the EU at the forefront of the global effort to establish a comprehensive legal framework on artificial intelligence. The Act aims to safeguard fundamental rights and promoting the development of safe and trustworthy AI by adopting a risk-based approach, mandating stricter scrutiny for higher-risk applications. At the highest level of risk, the Act contains a list of “prohibited us ..read more

Blogpost 33/2024 The state of media pluralism around the world stands at one of its most transformative points in modern history. The development of new technologies and the impact of social media platforms have radically reshaped society. Governments around the world have responded in kind. According to Freedom House, governments have shifted from open, laissez-faire internet exchange to ‘greater government intervention in the digital sphere.’ In 2023, global internet freedom had declined for the 13th consecutive year. Many point to the European Union as a bastion for ‘third way’ media co-reg ..read more

Blogpost 32/2024 The European Commission has recently published an initiative that aims to regulate virtual worlds and Web 4.0 which is structured around the objectives of the Digital Decade policy programme. Virtual reality (VR) is a relatively old concept that was introduced primarily through gaming environments but given a new meaning through the introduction of the “Metaverse”. The Metaverse allows users to enter an immersive virtual reality that offers relaxation, education or an office environment. The wide variety of virtual realities that are part of the Metaverse brings expected use t ..read more

Blogpost 31/2024 At the heart of the negotiations for the New Pact on Migration and Asylum lies one of its most contentious elements: the regulation of border procedures. During the Council negotiations, the Asylum Procedures Regulation (APR) underwent significant modifications, particularly in the provisions that regulate border procedures, to incorporate perspectives from all Member States. Despite expectations for improvements during trialogues with the Parliament, the final outcome in December 2023 witnessed a step back from many of the anticipated safeguards. Border procedures are perceiv ..read more

Blogpost 30/2024 The history of EU institutions is marked by a long list of statements and political initiatives that endorse the legal claims of the LGBTIQA+ community (see, for instance, Kollman and Bell). Over the past decades, these have gradually been mainstreamed within different areas of EU law. Particularly, the current EU legislative term (2019-2024) has witnessed an increased commitment of EU institutions towards the LGBTIQA+ community. This is not only shown by the numerous and recurrent Resolutions of the European Parliament on this topic (see EPRS). It is also evident from several ..read more

Blogpost 28/2024 The European Parliament’s recent proposal to remove the unanimity requirement from Article 19 TFEU (non-discrimination legislation) echoes a centuries-old US debate on voting and minority rights. James Madison, the ‘father’ of the US Constitution defended majority voting as a necessary condition for impartial law-making and minority protection in multi-state unions. Conversely, John C. Calhoun, the then Vice US President and a key advocate of slavery, sought to maintain the racial status-quo through advocating for a unanimity-based structure. The purpose of the blog is twofold ..read more