Posted on March 20, 2011 by Valentina Azarov
Following the questions raised about the discharge of the responsibility to protect by Gentian Zyberi in his recent post on the situation in Libya, and the remarks I previously made on the situation in Egypt and the responsibility of the international community, I would like to draw our readers’ attention to a revealing and insightful [...]
Filed under: Africa, EU Common Foreign and Security Policy, international justice, Peacekeeping, Public International Law, Responsibility to protect, States, United Nations | 2 Comments »
Posted on March 12, 2011 by Gentian Zyberi
On 28 February the EU imposed sanctions against Muammar Gaddafi’s regime, implementing resolution 1970 (2011) adopted by the UN’s Security Council on 26 February and imposing additional EU measures. The sanctions include an embargo on arms, ammunition and equipment that could be used for the repression of protesters; an assets freeze; and a visa ban [...]
Filed under: Africa, EU Common Foreign and Security Policy, Responsibility to protect, States, United Nations | Leave a Comment »
Posted on July 9, 2010 by franzebert
On Thursday 7 July 2010, the European Parliament approved the new SWIFT-Agreement on bank data transfers to the United States for counter-terrorist purposes (see the press release of the European Parliament). The Draft Agreement provides for mass bank data transfers upon request by the US authorities with a view to identifying suspected terrorists. It is [...]
Filed under: EU Common Foreign and Security Policy, EU-Law, EU/EC Law | 2 Comments »
Posted on June 2, 2010 by Gentian Zyberi
Representatives of Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia, the EU’s foreign policy chief Baroness Ashton, representatives of a number of EU countries, the US, Russia and Turkey are meeting today in a high-level summit in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. The main topic of discussions is the future of the integration of the Balkan countries into the [...]
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Posted on May 25, 2010 by Gentian Zyberi
The dispute between Serbia and Kosovo is among the most complex and yet to be resolved political issues in Europe. Kosovo, an independent country for over two years, is formally recognized by 69 UN countries, which include 22 of the 27 EU countries and all of its neighbors. It joined the International Monetary Fund and [...]
Filed under: EU Common Foreign and Security Policy, Human Rights, international justice, Public International Law, States, United Nations | 1 Comment »
Posted on January 27, 2010 by Ole W. Pedersen
In today’s Wall Street Journal Marcus Walker speculates that the admission of Turkey to the EU may be the only possibility left if Europe is to maintain its standing as an important international actor. The article somewhat echoes another article in this week’s Economist noting the need for the EU to become more realistic in [...]
Filed under: EC-Law, EU Common Foreign and Security Policy, EU-Law, EU/EC Law | 2 Comments »
Posted on February 21, 2009 by Valentina Azarov
Having only recently considered the normative importance and weight of the provision in Article 15(c) of the European Refugee Qualification Directive (mentioned here and here), the following is a timely and, to a certain extent, also welcomed judicial instance. On 17 January the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Justice rendered its preliminary ruling [...]
Filed under: ECJ, EU Common Foreign and Security Policy, EU/EC Law, Human Rights | Leave a Comment »
Posted on February 17, 2009 by Ole W. Pedersen
Today marks the one year anniversary of Kosovo declaring independence from Serbia. In many ways, the first year has been a mix of fortunes and misfortunes. Most importantly, Kosovo has largely remained peaceful despite initial warnings that the declaration of independence would lead to unrest and further fighting in the area. Kosovo’s politicians, its population [...]
Filed under: EU Common Foreign and Security Policy, EU-Law, Public International Law, United Nations | Leave a Comment »
Posted on February 14, 2009 by Valentina Azarov
The UK Home Office has issued a February 2009 Operational Guidance Note on Israel, Gaza and the West Bank setting out the main types of asylum claim, human rights claim and Humanitarian Protection claim (whether explicit or implied) that are expected to be submitted on behalf of individuals arriving to the UK from the region. [...]
Filed under: EU Common Foreign and Security Policy, EU/EC Law, International Humanitarian Law, Middle East Crisis, Public International Law | 1 Comment »
Posted on January 28, 2009 by franzebert
After a battle of several year the Iranian opposition group People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (“PMOI”) has succeeded in getting its name off the EU’s black list of terrorist organisations. As EUobserver reported on Tuesday, the EU Foreign Ministers agreed to remove the name of the organization from the list due to a lack of evidence [...]
Filed under: EC-Law, ECJ, EU Common Foreign and Security Policy, EU-Law, EU/EC Law, International terrorism, Public International Law | Leave a Comment »
Posted on December 11, 2008 by Ole W. Pedersen
Well perhaps not quite, but according to the French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner insisting on the creation of a post of Secretary of State for Human Rights, when he was sworn in by President Sarkozy in 2007, was a mistake. Kouchner, who is a long-time player on the international scene having helped founding Médecins Sans [...]
Filed under: EU Common Foreign and Security Policy, Human Rights | Leave a Comment »
Posted on December 10, 2008 by Valentina Azarov
On the one hand, business is going as usual, the European Union is going through the required procedures and working groups in order to arrive at the most mutually profitably arrangement for the upgrading of its bi-lateral trade (plus) relations with Israel. The European Union’s 27 foreign ministers unanimously approved upgrading relations with Israel on [...]
Filed under: EC-Law, EU Common Foreign and Security Policy, EU/EC Law, Human Rights, International Criminal Law, International Humanitarian Law, Middle East Crisis, Public International Law, United Nations | Leave a Comment »
Posted on December 7, 2008 by franzebert
On 4 December the Court of First Instance delivered its judgment in the matter People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (“PMOI”) v Council of the European Union (Case T‑284/08), where it declares one of the EU’s key instruments for the “fight against terrorism” partly unlawful. This case concerns Council Decision 2008/583/EC of 15 July 2008 which [...]
Filed under: EC-Law, EU Common Foreign and Security Policy, EU-Law, EU/EC Law, Human Rights, Public International Law | 1 Comment »
Posted on October 19, 2008 by franzebert
The EU’s external relations with third countries have always offered excellent object lessons with respect to the omnipresent tension between the promotion of the EU’s essential moral values and the political and economic interests of its Member States. Most recent evidence to this effect can be found in the 2897th External Relations meeting of the [...]
Filed under: EU Common Foreign and Security Policy, EU-Law, EU/EC Law, Human Rights, Public International Law | 1 Comment »
Posted on September 18, 2008 by Ole W. Pedersen
Following James’ post on the 63rd session of the General Assembly opening this week, it is worth taking a look at the report A Global Force for Human Rights? published this week by the think tank European Council on Foreign Affairs. The Report, authored by Richard Gowen and Franziska Brantner, argues that Europe faces a [...]
Filed under: EU Common Foreign and Security Policy, Public International Law | 1 Comment »
Posted on December 21, 2007 by Dominik Zimmermann
In an effort to ease the free movement of the citizens of the European Union, land and sea border controls with the new member States (i.e. Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia) are being lifted today 21 December 2007 (air borders will follow in March 2008). After it was [...]
Filed under: EU Common Foreign and Security Policy, EU Reform, EU/EC Law | Leave a Comment »
Posted on December 10, 2007 by Dominik Zimmermann
The Council of the European Union recently published a report on the co-operation and interaction between the EU and the International Criminal Court (ICC) (an English version can be found here). The report highlights in particular how the EU can co-ordinate the foreign policy positions of the EU member States with regard to the activities [...]
Filed under: EU Common Foreign and Security Policy, ICC, International Criminal Law | Leave a Comment »
