European Institutions

Expert Offers Alternative to Brexit Deal on Irish Border

December 26, 2018

Shanker Singham of the Institute of Economic Affairs offers an alternative to the current “backstop” agreed by the British government and the EU on the Irish border, replacing rules requiring perpetual adherence of the UK to EU trade rules with a “front stop” aimed at securing a long-term free trade agreement on goods and agri-food.
Poland Accedes to ECJ Order on Judicial Retirement Law

December 19, 2018

EurActiv reports that, this week, the Polish government complied with an order from the Court of Justice of the EU (ECJ) demanding the suspension of a law lowering the retirement age of the country’s Supreme Court judges pending a final ECJ decision on the law in 2019.
ECtHR: Lithuania Violated Rights of Family Applying for Asylum

December 19, 2018

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that Lithuanian authorities violated the rights against torture and to an effective remedy of seven members of a Russian family by denying them the ability to make an asylum application at the country’s border with Belarus.
ECtHR: Prosecutor’s Dismissal for Media Statement Violated Rights

December 19, 2018

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that the Romanian government violated the right to free expression of a prosecutor it dismissed for talking to the press about an ongoing criminal investigation.
NGO: EU Institutions Must Make Examples of Hungary, Poland

December 19, 2018

Philippe Dam of nongovernmental organization Human Rights Watch has criticized the EU Council and European Commission for these institutions’ failure to effectively clamp down on Hungary and Poland for alleged violations of the rule of law and fundamental rights.