Tag Archives: EU
24 April 2013
On 11 April, Judge Gaja gave a SHARES lecture entitled “The relations between the European Union and its member states from the perspective of the ILC Articles on Responsibility of International Organizations.” In his remarks, Judge Gaja discussed various aspects of the European Union’s relationship to the Articles, including its plea for special status, the implications of the EU’s forthcoming accession to the European Court of Human Rights, and the application of Articles 14 – 17 to international organizations generally.
Of particular note were his remarks on shared responsibility and the EU. Under the Articles, the EU responsibility might arise if it breaches an international obligation by act or omission. Judge Gaja used the Chile v. European Communities case based on dispute between Chile and Spanish fishermen fishing swordfish outside of the EEZ of Chile as an example of a situation where the EU might have been found responsible for failing to achieve a certain result, in this case the preservation of swordfish. Although the case settled, the EU has exclusive competence for the conservation of maritime resources and consequently there is little question it would have been responsible for any breach (see Hoffmeister’s article here). (more…)
15 April 2013
After almost three years of negotiations a final draft agreement on the accession of the EU to the European Convention on Human Rights has been published (here). I considered it therefore appropriate to revisit some of the criticisms I made on an earlier draft in this blog (here). In line with this blog’s remit, I shall again focus on the issue of shared responsibility and will in particular aim to explain the workings of the co-respondent mechanism, which is the agreement’s central innovation.
As explained in my previous post one of the key challenges for the negotiators of the accession agreement was to create, as required by Protocol 8 to the Lisbon Treaty, ‘the mechanisms necessary to ensure that proceedings by non-Member States and individual applications are correctly addressed to Member States and/or the Union as appropriate.’ The background to this is that it is chiefly the EU’s Member States which apply European Union law. Thus where a provision of EU law is (allegedly) in violation of the ECHR, a claimant will be confronted with an act by a Member State authority and will consequently seek remedies in the courts of that Member State. If these remedies are unsuccessful, the claimant can file an individual application with the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). The respondent in such a case would be the Member State. (more…)
25 March 2013
The German Federal Ministry of the Interior has announced that it will receive some 5,000 refugees from Syria. The first refugees should arrive in Germany by June. According to the official statement, the German Ministry of Interior intends to promote a coordinated European response together with UNHCR to protect refugees from Syria. The Minister will meet the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres in April, when he will launch a resettlement appeal to the EU.
Source: Bundesministerium des Innern | Nachrichten | Flüchtlinge aus Syrien (in German only)
12 January 2013
The International Herald Tribune reports that because of the financial crisis and euro crisis, most member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU) will most likely spend less on, and invest less in, defense. EU governments hesitate ‘to really improve Europe’s military technology sector or its security.’ Analysts say that Europe should take ‘more responsibility for its own security’ now the Obama administration’s security agenda focusses more on Asia.
Both NATO and the EU believe there is one way to deal with reducing resources: through smart defense or “pooling and sharing.” In practice, it would mean NATO and EU members, the majority of whom belong to each other’s organization, cooperating much more on defense.
Source: International Herald Tribune | How Much Are Americans Willing to Spend to Defend Europe?
15 November 2012
On 14 November, the UN Security Council unanimously renewed the mandate of the European peacekeepers in Bosnia and Herzegovina for one more year in its Resolution 2074.
EUFOR Althea took over peace operations in Bosnia from NATO’s SFOR in 2004. It is one of the three ongoing military operations deployed by the EU in the framework of its Security and Defense Policy.
Source: UN News Centre | Security Council extends mandate of European peacekeepers in Bosnia for another year