January 26, 2010 – 8:31 pm
How is it possible to avoid conflict of competences between Member States concerning the surveillance of maritime borders in the south of the Mediterranean, as well as possible conflict concerning the responsibility to rescue vessels in danger or to reject illegal immigrants at the border? These questions have been raised several times in the past [...]
January 26, 2010 – 10:43 am
This week the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee of the European Parliament will examine an interesting initiative for a Directive presented by twelve Members of the European Union (the Kingdom of Belgium, the Republic of Bulgaria, the Kingdom of Spain, the Republic of Estonia, the French Republic, the Italian Republic, the Republic of Hungary, [...]
January 21, 2010 – 9:41 am
The adoption of EU legislation on procedural rights in criminal procedures is at stake since a long time and despite a number of calls from the European Parliament, no legislative instrument is yet in place. As a consequence, suspects and defendants have no other protection than the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental [...]
January 19, 2010 – 5:24 pm
In the next few weeks the European Parliament will receive several international agreements in the field of police and judicial cooperation negotiated or signed -albeit not yet ratified by the European Council- before the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty. Among these, special attentions deserve the two agreements signed with the United States concerning [...]
January 19, 2010 – 2:24 pm
Russian lawmakers voted on Friday to ratify a key protocol on reforming the European Court of Human Rights, clearing the way for the long-delayed reform after years of resistance from Moscow. The lower house of Russia’s parliament, the Duma, ratified on Friday 15 January 2010 the Protocol 14 of the European Convention of Human Rights [...]
January 17, 2010 – 8:15 pm
In an article published in Le Soir on 16 January Guy Verhofstadt, former Belgian Prime Minster and current President of the Liberal Group of the European Parliament criticizes the weak role of the European Union and the standing leading role played by the Member States which demonstrate the absence of a real European approach. Nevertheless, Verhofstdat [...]
January 17, 2010 – 9:12 am
Will the Treaty of Lisbon, the new Stockholm Programme and the new figure of the European Union High Representative wake up the sleeping beauty of the consular and diplomatic protection of the European citizens ? Even the Head of State and Government have recognised that “..This right, enshrined in the Treaties, is not well publicised, [...]
January 15, 2010 – 1:13 pm
In the UK, the notion of trial by jury can be traced back to 1215 when Article 39 of the Magna Carta came into force. The article states that “No freeman shall be arrested or imprisoned or deprived of his freehold or outlawed or banished or in any way ruined, nor will we take or [...]
January 10, 2010 – 3:46 pm
The year 2010 opens focusing on the German Federal Court, yet again. The Court has been called upon to rule on the compatibility of the fundamental right to data protection with the Directive imposing providers of communication services to retain data generated by phone calls and other public networks communication activities for at least six [...]
January 10, 2010 – 10:19 am
The speech where President Obama took full responsibility of the administration’s failure to prevent the aborted attack to the Detroit fight, confirms, if there were any doubts, the firmness and quality of the civic and political debate in the other side of the Atlantic. By publicly recognising the administration’s liability and, more importantly, taking measures [...]
