European Institutions

EU Official Touts Role of Interest Groups in Energy Policy

July 30, 2018

At a recent European Economic and Social Committee meeting on the transition to renewable energy in the EU, European Commissioner for energy Maroš Šefčovič highlighted the important role environmental interest groups must play in shaping EU-wide policy toward a centralized Energy Union.
EC Issues Report on Members’ Compliance with EU Rules

July 30, 2018

The European Commission (EC) recently published its Annual Report on monitoring the application of EU law with the aim of encouraging better and smoother member-state compliance with EU rules and naming and shaming countries that failed to effectively implement EU legislation.
ECJ: UK Cannot Restrict Residence Rights to Citizens’ Spouses

July 30, 2018

The Court of Justice of the EU (ECJ) has struck down a UK regulation only allowing spouses or civil partners of British nationals to gain residence rights in the country through EU free movement rules, finding that countries must consider residence rights for any non-EU “partners” with whom the citizen has had a “durable relationship” in another EU member state.
ECJ Official: Dutch Nationality Law Violates EU Rules

July 30, 2018

Court of Justice of the EU (ECJ) Advocate General Paolo Mengozzi has determined that a Dutch law providing for the automatic loss of citizenship for minors whose mother or father has lost Dutch nationality is incompatible with EU law.
ECtHR: Russia Violated Free Speech Rights of Punk Band

July 30, 2018

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that the Russian government violated the right of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot to free expression when it jailed them on charges of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” for performing an anti-Putin song at a Moscow cathedral in 2012 and banned online access to the video of the event.