Democracy Impacts

EU Opposes UK Plan for Criminal Background Checks

July 26, 2017

Politico reports that a "major sticking point" between EU and UK officials in negotiations over Brexit to this point has been whether Britain can perform criminal background checks on all EU citizens living in the country who apply for "settled status" after the country leaves the bloc.
EU Body Seeks Stronger "Solidarity Corps"

July 26, 2017

The European Committee of the Regions has issued an opinion praising the EU's establishment of a "European Solidarity Corps" to provide job opportunities and cultivate pro-EU sentiments in youth across the bloc and calling for a strengthened local and regional role in the implementations of the Solidarity Corps' initiatives.
French, German Leaders Voice Tentative Support for EU Treaty Change

July 25, 2017

The Independent reports that, at their first meeting in Berlin, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed their willingness to support EU treaty amendments that grant greater authority to the supranational entity to resolve policy issues - including, according to President Macron, through a "common asylum policy."
EU Paper: ECJ Must Enforce Brexit Agreement

July 25, 2017

Bloomberg reports that, in draft Brexit negotiating directives circulated by EU officials in May, EU institutions and national governments demanded that the EU and UK grant the Court of Justice of the EU (ECJ) a central role in enforcing the provisions of any post-Brexit deal, meaning that the ECJ would retain authority in Britain following its exit from the EU.
Observer Questions Democratic Legitimacy of EU Integration

July 24, 2017

In a recent article, author Andrew Spannaus analyzes the history of attempts by EU and national officials to avoid the results of popular votes rejecting transfers of power to the supranational organization and questions the democratic legitimacy of the bloc's ultimate goal of becoming a "United States of Europe."
Booth: UK Cannot Submit to Post-Brexit ECJ Authority

July 24, 2017

Stephen Booth of the British think tank Open Europe writes that demands contained in the European Commission's Brexit negotiating guidelines, released in early May, for the Court of Justice of the EU (ECJ) to maintain jurisdiction over EU citizens living in the UK after Brexit "are never going to fly" with the UK Prime Minister.
Committee: Retain UK-EU Energy Relationship

July 21, 2017

The British Parliament's Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy Committee recently called on the UK Government to remain in the EU's Emissions Trading System, which allocates permission to release set amounts of carbon emissions, and warned against a potentially "disastrous" exit from the EU's nuclear regulatory body following its departure from the bloc.
Commission Warns Hungary over NGO Funding Law

July 21, 2017

The European Commission has sent a letter to the Hungarian government warning that the country's new law requiring greater reporting and registration requirements by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that receive foreign funding violates EU law and must be amended.
UK Lawmakers Call for Free Data Flow Post-Brexit

July 21, 2017

A committee in the House of Lords has called for the UK to retain the free flow of EU citizens’ data after the country departs the EU to facilitate competition by British businesses and security cooperation with European countries, raising questions whether the UK would continue to follow EU Court of Justice rulings under such a post-Brexit data arrangement.
EU May Sanction Poland for Judicial Changes

July 21, 2017

Politico reports that the European Commission is considering plans to sanction the Polish government, in a process that may lead to the country's loss of EU voting rights, in response to proposed Polish judicial reforms that, according to Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans, “greatly amplify the threat to the rule of law.”