European Institutions

EU Advances Ban on Broad Range of Plastic Items

January 11, 2019

Politico reports that negotiators from the European Parliament and European Council have reached an agreement to advance a “single-use plastics directive,” which will ban, beginning in 2021, broad categories of plastic items, including straws, plates, cutlery, and drinking cups made from a certain type of plastic, from circulation in the EU.
Italian, Polish Euroskeptics Discuss Party Alliance for EU Reform

January 11, 2019

Reuters reports that Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini has visited the head of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice Party Jarosław Kaczyński to discuss the formation of a “eurosceptic alliance” to compete in upcoming European Parliament elections in May on a platform of EU reform.
ECtHR Approves Mandatory School Attendance Rules in Germany

January 11, 2019

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that the removal of children from their parents’ home in Germany to receive temporary, government-approved education due to the parents’ refusal to send their children to state-run schools complied with European human rights law on the protection of private and family life.
ECtHR: Latvian Prison Policies Discriminate on Basis of Sex

January 11, 2019

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that Latvian authorities had violated the rights of a male prisoner to respect for his private life and against discrimination by failing to consider relevant factors in deciding whether to grant him leave to attend his father’s funeral, finding that the authorities treat female prisoners in a less restrictive manner.
UK Publishes Commitment to Northern Ireland on Brexit “Backstop”

January 10, 2019

The UK government has published a paper expressing its commitment to “ensuring there would be no divergence in practice between the rules” of Northern Ireland and Great Britain in the event the “backstop” agreed between the UK and EU to avoid a “hard border” in Ireland takes effect.