European Institutions

ECJ Finds Limitation in Right to Expel Convicted Criminals

January 08, 2018

The Court of Justice of the EU (ECJ) held in a December decision that EU member states cannot expel a long-term resident who is a national of a country that is not an EU member on the sole basis that the resident has been sentenced to over a year of imprisonment.
CoE Issues Negative Findings on Polish, Ukrainian Reforms

January 08, 2018

In December, the Council of Europe’s (CoE) Commission for Democracy through Law adopted a series of opinions concluding that Polish judicial reforms place "at serious risk" the independence of all Polish courts, that Poland should separate its Public Prosecutor General from its Ministry of Justice, and that Ukraine should ramp up teaching of minority languages.
ECtHR Receives Case on Azerbaijan's Compliance with Judgment

January 08, 2018

News.am reports that the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers has, for the first time, referred to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) a question whether a country has refused to abide by a ECtHR judgment in the case of an imprisoned opposition politician in Azerbaijan.
EU Members Disagree on Solution to Migration Flows

January 08, 2018

Voice of America reports that, at a recent summit of EU member states, Western EU members complained of the rejection of future migration quotas from members of the Visegrad Group - the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia - which instead offered funds for EU border security.
ECtHR: Countries Must Recognize Gay Marriages Contracted Abroad

January 08, 2018

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that Italy violated the rights of same-sex couples to respect for private and family life by failing "to take account of their social reality" in refusing to recognize marriages they had contracted abroad.