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The New EU Return Regulation: A Step Towards Crimmigration?

July 14, 2026

In mid-June 2026, the European Parliament gave its final approval to the amendments to the European Union’s policy on the return of third-country nationals staying irregularly on Union territory. With 418 votes in favour, 218 against, and 30 abstentions, the new Return Regulation, which replaces Directive 2008/115/EC, formally aims to “speed up procedures, with full respect for fundamental rights and international law, including the principle of non-refoulement and the prohibition of collective expulsions, while preventing abuses and unauthorised movements within the EU”. According to European Commission data, currently only about 28% of migrants ordered to leave European territory are actually returned to their country of origin. The new Regulation, proposed by the von der Leyen Commission in 2025, aims to increase this percentage by making expulsion procedures faster and more coordinated, also through a “European Return Order”, which provides that an expulsion decision adopted by one Member State can be recognised and enforced in other Union countries. This mutual recognition is initially optional and will become mandatory only…

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The ECtHR’s First Victimisation Judgment… 50 years after the 1975 Equal Pay Directive

May 14, 2026

In December 2025, in Ortega Ortega v. Spain, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), for the first time, found that unremedied employer retaliation against a sex discrimination complainant amounted to sex discrimination. The domestic courts upheld a woman’s dismissal after she complained about unequal pay. The ECtHR found a violation of Article 14 with Article 8 ECHR, holding…

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Central Bank Sanctions Return to the CJEU

March 20, 2026

A Primer on the Russian Central Bank’s Legal Challenge to the Permanent Freezing of its Assets On March 3, 2026, the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) announced that it has recently filed an action for annulment under Article 263 TFEU challenging Council Regulation (EU) 2025/2600 before the General Court of the EU. This regulation…

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The War on Terroir Continues: The Escalating Conflict Between the U.S. and the EU on Geographical Indications

March 10, 2026

In a time when the views of the European Union and the United States of America appear to be drifting further apart each day, long-standing issues are resurfacing once again. Tim Josling’s 2006 article “The War on Terroir” describes the transatlantic trade conflict between the U.S. and the EU concerning Geographical Indications (GIs) through the lense of…

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Two Weeks in Review: 23 February—6 March 2026

March 8, 2026

Here we go again? Last weekend saw yet another shock to the system, as the US and Israel launched an armed attack on Iran: the last week on the blog has seen some initial reactions. These are joined by analyses of the hard-fought (and already faltering?) EU-Mercosur trade agreement, regional shifts in dispute settlement under UNCLOS, an apparently…

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