European Institutions

ECJ Limits Tax Exemptions to Religious Institutions

August 09, 2017

The Court of Justice of the EU (ECJ) has ruled that it considers tax exemptions by EU member states for religious institutions, such as the Catholic Church, as unlawful state aid if the activities for which the exemptions are granted are economic, rather than religious, in nature.
ECJ: Hungary Discriminated Against Online Betting Company

August 09, 2017

The Court of Justice of the EU (ECJ) has held that Hungary discriminated against a company that offers online "games of chance," in violation of EU law, by blocking access to that company's betting site without offering it a sufficient opportunity to register with Hungarian authorities as a legal operation.
ECJ: EU Members Must Offer Benefits to Foreign Workers

August 09, 2017

The Court of Justice of the EU (ECJ) has held that an EU member state must provide a national of a non-EU country who holds a permit to work in that member state the same welfare and social security benefits as it offers to its citizens.
CoE Body Warns of "Nationalistic Populism"

August 09, 2017

The annual report of the Council of Europe's (CoE) Commission Against Racism and Intolerance warned of a rise in "nationalistic populism" across Europe in 2016, asserting that "racist insults and xenophobic hate speech have reached unprecedented levels" and that Islamophobia is a "persisting trend."
ECtHR: Criminal DNA Database Violated Rights

August 09, 2017

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that a French law requiring the taking of DNA samples from convicted criminals and their storage in a database for up to 40 years violated the right to privacy by failing to take into account the seriousness of the relevant crimes and by not providing the ability for criminals to apply for deletion of their DNA data.