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Kosovo is a Country, and a Country Means a State, Rules the Court of Justice of the European Union

January 20, 2023

In September 2020, the General Court of the European Union (GCEU) examined whether the 2019 admission of Kosovo as a ‘third country’ to the EU Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) amounted to recognition by the EU of Kosovo as an independent State. The case was brought by Spain, a non-recogniser of Kosovo, against the Commission, who had decided on the admission of the National Regulatory Authority (NRA) of Kosovo to BEREC. As I reported here in 2020, the GCEU had found that the concept of ‘third country’ within the meaning of the EU law could not be equated with that of ‘third State’. The GCEU found that the “concept of ‘third country’ [had] a broader scope which [went] beyond sovereign States alone, with the result that Kosovo [was] capable of falling within it, without prejudice to the position of the European Union or its Member States as regards the status of Kosovo as an independent State”. (para 36) According to the GCEU, “the provisions…

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The Weakest Link of the Troika? The Immunity of Heads of Government in Customary International Law

October 27, 2021

There have been a flurry of cases in the English courts concerning foreign leaders in recent months. Permission has been granted to serve the President of Mozambique in a case involving claims challenging state guarantees of the financing for projects in Mozambique. The Fifth President of Ukraine (2014-2019) Petro Poroshenko has been found to be immune…

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A Dangerous Convergence: The Inevitability of Mass Surveillance in European Jurisprudence

June 4, 2021

Recent Grand Chamber judgments in Big Brother Watch and Others v. United Kingdom and Centrum för Rättvisa v. Sweden held that some aspects of the UK’s and Sweden’s domestic surveillance regimes violated Articles 8 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (“ECHR”). Despite the findings of violation…

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The Luxembourg Court Rules on the Difference between States and Countries as International Law Actors

November 27, 2020

On 23 September 2020, the General Court of the European Union (GCEU) in Case T-370-19 Kingdom of Spain v. European Commission rendered a judgment that will surely become an important footnote in any textbook of public international law dealing with treaties and subjects. In this case, the GCEU ruled, among others, on whether certain acts…

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The EU Judiciary After Weiss – Proposing A New Mixed Chamber of the Court of Justice: A Reply to Our Critics

July 8, 2020

A few weeks ago, we published a proposal, in the form of a Position Paper, for the creation of a Mixed Chamber at the Court of Justice as a means, in part, of addressing the issues highlighted by the May 5th Weiss decision of the German Constitutional Court. This Chamber, to be composed of sitting members of the…

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