During the last four years, the blog “Despite our Differences” was a relevant source of comments and developments for the community of EU lawyers. It covered important events like Brexit, the Court’s growing case-law on fundamental rights, the rule of law crisis or the reform of the EU judiciary. Thousands of readers followed regularly the posts and shared them. Now that the...
Allan Rosas left the Court of Justice on 7 October 2019, after almost eighteen years of service as a distinguished member of the EU’s highest jurisdiction. He bears witness to profound changes in the EU’s judiciary, from the time of the pre-accession Court of 2004 to the recent and massive machinery of case-law production in these tumultuous times. One of the most respected judges...
After months in the waiting, the Court ruled at last in two crucial infringement actions that put the final piece in the jigsaw puzzle of damages actions in EU law. In Commission/UK (C-391/17) and Commission/The Netherlands (C-395/17) the question of damages actions by the EU against a Member State was put upfront by the Commission, after decades of doubts over the issue. Using once again the...
The judgment in IN and IM/Belgium, delivered yesterday by the Court of Justice, is a relevant development in the definition of Article 51.1 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and its scope of application when applied by Member States. The judgment is an interesting continuation of the Akerberg Fransson saga which still stirs the passions of EU lawyers. The judgment is relevant because it stands...
Yesterday, Advocate General Hogan delivered an eagerly awaited Opinion in the case of Banco Santander, in which the Court of Justice will review its position on the concept of “jurisdiction” eligible to make a preliminary reference. The case is highly relevant for several reasons. First, the Court is signalling its intention to make a statement by sending the case to the Grand Chamber. Although...