European Union

Page 24 of 28

Filter category

The German Constitutional Court and the Euro-Crisis: The Emperor‘s New Clothes?

September 20, 2012

 Daniel Thym is Professor of Public, European and International Law at the University of Konstanz Domestic German debates about the euro-crisis have had an unreal character so far. In the face of an economic crisis with global repercussions, the German public has been fascinated by the role of the Constitutional Court whom they admire. A vast majority of Germans trust that the country’s highest justices will steer the euro-debate through troubled waters with legal arguments. This confidence in the ability of Germany’s top constitutionalists, including several public law professors, was always bound to lead to disappointment. It is true that the German Constitutional Court cannot be held responsible for the excessive media hype (or indeed opinion polls) about its role. However, it has to shoulder some responsibility. In recent years, the Court’s Second Senate had nourished the expectation that its interpretation of the principle of democracy was a lodestar for rescue operations. The debate reminded me of the fairy tale ‘The Emperor‘s New Clothes’.

Read more

Karlsruhe gives green light for German ESM ratification

September 12, 2012

On September 12, 2012, the German Constitutional Court dismissed several constitutional complaints that sought an injunction to prevent German ratification of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) - a central pillar of the Eurozone's crisis response - and the Fiscal Treaty in the preliminary phase of the proceedings (extracts in English). A full ruling…

Read more

Diplomatic Asylum for Julian Assange?

September 11, 2012

Professor Kai Ambos is Chair of Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Comparative Law and International Criminal Law at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany (since May 2003) and Judge at the Provincial Court (Landgericht) of Lower Saxony in Göttingen Julian Assange’s medal-worthy self-staging as a militant for worldwide freedom of opinion has diverted attention away…

Read more

Dublin, Karlsruhe and Luxembourg in dialogue

August 6, 2012

While financial markets have focused on Karlsruhe where the second challenge to the Eurozone rescue efforts in a year is currently pending, the Irish Supreme Court held on July 31 that Irish ratification of the Treaty establishing the European Stability Mechanism and the Fiscal Treaty was compatible with the Irish constitution.  The court referred two…

Read more

UN human rights treaty monitoring reform update: promising OHCHR proposals now to be acted upon by the General Assembly (and the EU)

July 20, 2012

John Morijn, PhD (EUI (Law)) is senior human rights adviser, Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations and assistant professor of human rights law, University of Groningen, The Netherlands. Views expressed in this post are strictly those of the author only, and do not in any way reflect the position of the Dutch government. A while back…

Read more