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Iran’s (Non-)Compliance with its Non-Proliferation Obligations Revisited

June 22, 2013

A recent statement issued by the EU entitled ‘Common messages regarding EU sanctions against the Iranian nuclear programme’, posted on the websites of various EU embassies in Tehran (and translated into Farsi), attempts to sum up the reasons which have allegedly justified not only the sanctions on Iran decided by the UN Security Council, but also those adopted by the EU itself, which, as the document make clear, are ‘autonomous sanctions, beyond the ones imposed on Iran by UNSC Resolutions’. However, the recent EU statement, like others making allegations against Iran with respect to its nuclear programme, is vague and imprecise in terms of content of the obligations allegedly breached by Iran. It states that ‘[s]anctions are a response to Iran's violations of its international obligations’, but it fails to give a precise indication of exactly what obligations would have been breached. In fact, it is noteworthy that the statement limits itself to pointing to the violation by Iran ‘of several resolutions of the United Nations Security Council and IAEA Board of…

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Human Rights: Member State, EU and ECHR Levels of Protection

June 7, 2013

Article 53 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union caused, already at its inception, a hermeneutical conundrum: Nothing in the Charter shall be interpreted as restricting or adversely affecting human rights and fundamental freedoms as recognized, in their respective fields of application, by Union law and international law and by international agreements to which…

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Boyle and Crawford on Scottish Independence

February 12, 2013

Last month, Joseph Weiler's post on Catalonian independence and the European Union triggered a lively discussion here on EJIL!Talk (including Nico Krisch's reply). Yesterday's publication by the British government of a legal opinion by Alan Boyle of the University of Edinburgh and James Crawford of the University of Cambridge, entitled 'Referendum on the Independence of Scotland:…

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Iceland not responsible for the liabilities of its deposit insurance scheme

January 28, 2013

In a landmark decision, the EFTA Court on 28 January 2013 dismissed all claims brought by the EFTA Surveillance Authority against Iceland in the Icesave case. The Authority had alleged that Iceland had breached its obligations under Directive 94/14/EC on deposit guarantee by failing to compensate Icesave depositors and had violated the prohibition on non-discrimination in the Directive and…

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Catalonia’s Independence: A Reply to Joseph Weiler

January 18, 2013

Nico Krisch (Hertie School of Governance, Berlin & IBEI, Barcelona) Joseph Weiler's polemic on Catalan independence has certainly stirred up debate (see the comments on the piece), which is always helpful. But as much as I admire much of Weiler’s academic work, I find this intervention heavily misguided in…

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