100 posts
From the horse's mouth: How the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights WAS to blame for higher insurance prices
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Over a year ago now, the ECJ ruled that, from December 2012, insurers can no longer offer different products and prices to men and women based on their sex, since it would constitute discrimination. We estimated that a 17 year old female driver will...
Finnish president: 'We've overestimated the Lisbon Treaty'
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The EU has overestimated the importance of the Lisbon Treaty and the international community is still wondering who speaks for the European Union on the international stage, Finnish President Tarja Halonen said in an exclusive interview with EurActiv...
EU Accession to the ECHR and the Election of Judges
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With the accession of the European Union to the ECHR on the horizon, negotiations are ongoing on several levels. One technical issue which needs to be worked out is how the EU wil be involved in the election of judges to the ECHR. Judges, under Artic...
Parliaments and the European Union – Representative Democracy after the Lisbon Treaty (6 July 2011)
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Parliaments and the European Union – Representative Democracy after the Lisbon Treaty 6 July 2011, 2pm – 6pm, followed by a reception Mary Sumner House, 24 Tufton Street, London SW1P 3RB Programme: 13.45 – 14.00: Registration Session 1: The...
Documents on EU Accession to the ECHR
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With the negotiations between the European Union and the state parties to the ECHR in full swing about the accession of the EU to the European Convention, the "Informal Group on Accession of the European Union to the Convention" has a specific page o...
Europe with a LiSP (updated)
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While lobbyists scramble to use the European Citizens’ Initiative to their advantage, one of the other innovations of the Lisbon Treaty seems to have raised so little interest that it doesn’t even have a TLA (Three Letter Acronym). Surely...
Is the Lisbon Treaty delivering on its promises?
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The Lisbon Treaty conference featured a lively round table discussion on the impact of different aspects of the Treaty. Following the conference we posed the question, "Is the Lisbon Treaty delivering on its promises?" to five conference participant...
It’s time to discuss the mandate of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office!
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The trans-national dimension of organised crime in the EU is ever increasing and "law enforcement authorities are increasingly confronted with cases of cross-border observation and surveillance which create issues at both legal and operational leve...
Révision des traités: l’Europe de plus en plus illisible
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Avec la décision de réviser – même de façon extrêmement partielle, prudente et discrète – les traité Européens pour pérenniser le fond de stabilisation financière, le conseil de l’Union a ouvert, sinon la boite de Pandore, au moin...
A Good Guide to Institutional Innovations in the Treaty of Lisbon
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The Center for European Policy Studies (CEPS), Egmont (Belgium’s Royal Institute of International Affairs) and the European Policy Centre (EPC) have come together to publish a second study of the institutional innovations included of the Treaty of...
This could be interesting
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Do you remember all that talk about how national parliaments would be strenghtened under the Lisbon Treaty (something which the pro-Lisbon camp continuously banged on about, presenting it as a 'fact', when in reality it's anything but)?We've looked a...
Ad Hoc Comitology?
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With the Treaty of Lisbon we have for the first time a formal hierarchy of EU legal acts. In this hierarchy the implementing act of the Commission are sub-divided into delegated (art. 290 TFEU) and implementing (art. 291 TFEU) acts. … Continue...
Oireachtas Committee Report on National Parliament involvement in EU legislation
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The Oireachtas (both houses of the Irish Parliament) Sub-Committee on Review of the Role of the Oireachtas in European Affairs has published its report (PDF) on how the Irish Parliament should adapt to the new European institutional setting after the...
Here We Go Again
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The Spanish Presidency of the European Union on Wednesday will begin an Intergovernmental Conference to amend the Governing Treaties of the European Union to allow 18 MEPs to take their seats in the European Parliament under the Lisbon Treaty as elec...
Presidency Paradox: The Problem with the new European Council President
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By Scott James Now that the sense of anti-climax surrounding the appointment of Herman van Rompuy as the new President of the European Council has subsided, it is worthwhile casting a critical eye over the likely role and powers of the new permanent...
Shame on EU: Unelected MEPs
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Had the European Union existed, Adam Smith might have written:People of the EU institutions seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to shortchange th...
The line between fact and fiction
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Although Europe has been seemingly neutralised as an election issue, and the main political parties have reached a rather settled position on the Lisbon Treaty, it does not give them license to play fast and loose with the facts of what the Treaty me...
The European Citizens' Initiative and our re:publica 10 workshop
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The European Commission has brutally failed, judging from some blank faces in our workshop on the European Citizens' Initiative at the re:publica 10 this morning. Those European citizens present at the session - approximately 50 to 60 people - were...
Re-Opening Lisbon
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After reading this headline MEPs set course to re-open Lisbon treaty Queue lots of shouts of “nooooooooooooo” from me. It is a headline from the European Voice, about MEP’s on the constitutional affairs committee voting for an IGC...
EU Accession to the ECHR
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Article 6 §2 TEU provides that the EU shall accede to the European Convention of Human Rights. Easier said than done, of course. But now the wheels of accession are in motion. The Commission has proposed negotiating directives to the...
"Twenty years down the line, where will we be?"
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Over the Bank Holiday weekend the Independent and the Telegraph both picked up on a lecture given by the aptly named Lord Chief of Justice, Lord Judge, last month, in which he warned of the growing influence of both the European Court of Human Rights...
EU- CARIFORUM Meeting on political dialogue
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The European Union and CARIFORUM met for the first CARIFORUM-EU Political Dialogue at Kingston, Jamaica, to discuss issues of interest and relevance to both parties within the framework of the upcoming EU-CARIFORUM Summit to take place in Madrid on 1...
New Consolidated Versions of the Founding Treaties
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The new consolidated versions of the founding Treaties can be found in the Official Journal. They include the Treaty on European Union, Treaty on the functioning of the European Union, the Charter of fundamental rights of the European Union and the T...
Why the Commission’s proposal is nipping the citizen’s initiative in the bud
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I’ve never been a great fan of the concept of the European citizen’s initiative. Having to mobilise 1.000.000 people to submit an idea for review by the Commission without the Commission having any obligation to actually act on it, I’ve...
We want democracy, but only the sort we want
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In the European Constitution and its follow up the Lisbon Treaty one ofthe key selling points vaunted by the pro side was that it would democratise the EU particularly in the light of the new Citizen's initiative. Article 11, Par 4 of the Treaty stat...
Citizen's Initiative Proposal
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The Commission has produced proposals on how the Citizen’s Initiative, the ability of EU citizens to petition the Commission to make legislative proposals in an area, will function. The legislation would have to be passed by the Council and Parliam...
Having our say in Europe – but will we get anywhere?
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You may not have caught it on the main news bulletins today (though kudos to Radio 4’s World at One for covering it) but today saw the launch of the European Citizens’ Initiative. Despite the name, which has slight Orwellian overtones...
Barroso versus Van Rompuy
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From Gideon Rachman’s blog At European summits, it is easy to get the mistaken impression that the arguments are all about finding the correct policies or defending national interests. I suppose, sometimes, that is the case. But more often that...
Better Times Ahead: The Lisbon Treaty
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The following article appeared in the Beijing Review on 24 Decemeber 2009 Better Times Ahead The Lisbon Treaty and a new EU hierarchy point to greater stability and a resurgent dynamism By Stanley Crossick The year 2009 was a difficult one for the...
Let’s not get too excited about the EEAS!
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There is a lot of speculation about the nature of the EEAS these days. Last week the first names for the top posts have been leaked to the press. Since then there has been a fight about organigramms or how a diplomat expressed it: “There’...
Europe’s Case of ‘Chief Executive Envy’
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Every time Europe goes through one of its occasional crises, calls arise across the continent for ’stronger leadership.’ The perception of having feeble leadership was a major factor in the push for the Lisbon Treaty, which went into effe...
Germany's second chamber: Europe 2020 timetable violates Lisbon Treaty
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In a freshly published press release the European Chamber of the German Bundesrat has criticised the timetable of the Europe 2020 process foreseeing a decision at the European Council on 25-26 March 2010 as violating the rights of national legislatur...
A European own goal
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Expectations were high when the Lisbon Treaty entered into force and Catherine Ashton was appointed head of EU foreign policy. One of the first questions asked at the press conference when Ashton was appointed, was whom the world should call on matte...
Nightmare Lisbon Treaty
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Today, the Lisbon Treaty has been in force for 100 days. The result? A more democratic and open EU? A Union which voters have an easier time understanding and identifying themselves with? Simpler and more 'streamlined' institutions? Not quite.On it'...
What is an EU legislative act?
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The debate about what the Lisbon Treaty actually means continues. Now the conference of EU committees of member states' parliaments (COSAC) has raised the following question:What is a "legislative acts" when it comes to the involvement of national a...
The forgotten Trio
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Among the institutional changes brought about by the Lisbon Treaty, some have been more present in the media and public debate than others. Three months after the Treaty entered into force, we can still read at least a couple of articles a day about...
Making waves
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Herman Van Rompuy has one major advantage over his fellow new EU appointee Catherine Ashton. His job as President of the European Council is entirely new. There were few expectations, except that he should not be so bold as to try and steal the lim...
A critical point
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Well this is the EU at its finest, isn’t it? It talked the new Lisbon Treaty up a storm before it came into place. Taking a frankly rose-tinted view of what the new posts it contains will mean for foreign policy and external representation: allowi...
Lisbon means more power to EU Parliament, citizens, but some confusion too
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The Lisbon treaty has been accused of all sorts of things by its opponents, but there is little doubt that it does include new provisions aimed at making European Union workings more transparent. In my view one the most crucial ones is that the Counc...
World Restless as EU Struggles with its Lisbon New Look
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Whether it’s climate change, foreign policy or the increasingly alarming fiscal crisis, the European Union’s difficulties can be summed up in one word: disunity. After December 1, when the EU’s Lisbon treaty came into force, disu...
Obama's not the only one confused by Lisbon
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The Obama "snub" continues to gather headlines in today's papers. PJ Crowley, the US Assistant Secretary of State, today confirmed that the uncertainty created by the new posts created under the Lisbon Treaty had been a major factor in Obama's decisi...
Lisbon Treaty : managing expectations
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The new treaty entered into force on 1 December; Hermann van Rompuy took office on 1 January; Cathleen Ashton, while already High Representative for Foreign & Security Policy, had to face her Europêan Parliament Hearing on 11 January; and the ne...
“The Lisbon Treaty and national parliaments…
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And a roundup. The Lisbon Treaty and national parliaments: In practice from Open Europe blog by Open Europe blog team The true effect of Lisbon, the practice not the theory, is beginning to come to light and, as some of us warned, it is far from pret...
The Lisbon Treaty and national parliaments: In practice
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The true effect of Lisbon, the practice not the theory, is beginning to come to light and, as some of us warned, it is far from pretty.The House of Commons' European Scrutiny Committee, the body charged with sifting through EU legislation and holding...
Serious People say Direct democracy is bad for Europe!
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Remember when Serious People (exemplified by the Economist's Charlemagne column) were mocking the EU as...
How will the European Parliament use its new decision-making powers after the Lisbon Treaty?
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When the Lisbon Treaty came into force on 1 December 2009, one of the big winners was the European Parliament which gained equal status with the Council of Ministers in most EU decision-making, including for the first time agricultural policy-making...
New Commission, new European Parliament, new Treaty
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The ratification of the Lisbon Treaty at the end of last year, following eight years of institutional introspection, gives rise to mixed feelings for proponents of EU integration – relief and an element of exhaustion. The debate on the Treaty pushe...
Charlemagne fixing Europe?
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I started reading the promising blog post on Charlemagne’s notebook, Europe realises that Lisbon does not fix Europe (5 January 2010), with a degree of anticipation. Noteworthy continental journalists had lamented the complexity of the Lisbon Treat...
Downright scandalous
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We had been forced led to believe by the powers that be that the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty (by hook and by crook) was meant to signal the end of the EU's internal wrangling and launch the EU into a new decade more outward looking and firmly f...
Secondary, but Still Important Players
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Although the Treaty of Lisbon increases the role of the national parliaments of the Member States, they are not to be at the heart of the EU, but remain secondary players instead. The following gives an overview of the (renewed) functions of a nation...
2010 will be the Year of Parliaments
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2010 will be the year when democratic accountability takes a front seat in the European Union. That is because the Lisbon Treaty gives bigger roles to the European Parliament, national parliaments and to civil society. The big winner from the Lisbon...
Commission consultation on citizens initiatives
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Among the many reductions in democracy introduced n the Lisbon Treaty - along with increased...
To Err is Human, but is It also Convenient?
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An assumption is that an ideal law grows out of morals, and corresponds to the principle of legitimate expectation. Therefore, it is specifically sad to already see that a Corrigenda on four pages has been adopted to the Treaty of Lisbon OJ C 290...
Democracy – A Win-Win Situation?
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The EU bases on principles of democracy. One can find provisions on representative democracy, and participatory democracy in the constitutive treaties of the EU. Since the provisions lie in the constitutive treaties, one can also talk of constitut...
Denouncing the EU Lisbon Treaty ─ UK Tories and the long grass
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In the blog post Gerald Warner and the Song of Songs of unsophistication (20 October 2009), I rejected Warner’s Telegraph column view that Britain could revoke the Lisbon Treaty and return to the ‘status quo ante’ after the amending treaty has...
A New Phase Of EU Development
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As a result of recent coming into effect of the Lisbon Treaty on reform of the European Union the latter entered a new phase of its development. Though its institutions were never designed for foreign policy or military affairs, it is moving slowly t...
Lisbon Treaty = even more cash for MEPs
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Amid all thee excitement over the EU bureaucrats' demands for an inflation-busting 3.7% payrise smack in the middle of the worst recession since the 1930s, Bruno Waterfield at the Telegraph brings us news that according to an internal document seen b...
The US State Department on the Lisbon Treaty
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We’ve seen all the intra-European arguments about Lisbon (now in force for a full fortnight) – what we really need is some expert extra-European opinion. So ta very much to Philip H Gordon, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of European and Eura...
Search for 18 ”ghost MEPs” ─ Scandal in the making?
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Some EU member states failed to provide for the election of the additional members of the European Parliament at the European elections in June 2009, and the member states as a whole neglected to start the treaty amendment process as a separate exerc...
EU Council’s new Rules of Procedure
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In a European Union, “in which decisions are taken as openly as possible and as closely as possible to the citizen”, the real issues at stake and the diplomatic negotiations between the capitals remain opaque and seriously under-reported by natio...
State aid in EU Lisbon Treaty: Prohibition and derogations
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The Treaty of Lisbon entered into force on 1 December 2009. According to Article 3(1)(b) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the EU has exclusive competence in the establishing of the competition rules necessary for the fun...
New Rules of Procedure of the Council
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The new Rules of Procedure of the Council have been published in the Official Journal. One of the important principles is that the Council will meet in public when it deliberates and votes on a draft legislative act.
Involvement of national parliaments under Lisbon: Barroso letter
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A week ago, Barroso has sent out a letter explaining how the national parliaments will be involved under the Lisbon Treaty. To remember: Under the Protocol 2 of the Lisbon Treaty, national parliaments have gained explicit scrutiny rights in EU law-m...
Better information? European Council 11-12 December 2009
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First I looked at the fate of the noble principles of openness and representative democracy, as well as for comprehensive pre-summit information on the agenda, ahead of the first European Council meeting under the Lisbon Treaty and the new Rules of P...
European Council 10 to 11 December 2009
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Thursday 10 and Friday 11 December 2009, the European Council will convene in Brussels, the last summit under the Swedish presidency of the Council of the European Union, but the first under its new Rules of Procedure. Some proclaimed that the Lisbon...
EU Council Secretary-General Pierre de Boissieu
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When the Lisbon Treaty entered into force on 1 December 2009, the European Council and the Council of the European Union immediately took a number of decisions to put the treaty reforms into practice. There are still a few implementing decisions we h...
Lisbon Treaty: Changes in inter-institutional decision-making procedures
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Sometimes I start writing a post because I find informative documents that I would like to share, and then I find little treasures like Annex 4 that you find below. But let's start from the beginning: The Lisbon Treaty has brought and will continue...
Out there in eurospace
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Foreign Secretary David Miliband appeared before the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee this afternoon to discuss developments in the EU, ahead of the formal six-monthly European Council meeting in Brussels on Thursday and Friday this...
