scholarly journals Tracing the Boundaries between Disability and Sickness in the European Union: Squaring the Circle?

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-35
Author(s):  
Silvia Favalli ◽  
Delia Ferri

In recent years the European Union (eu) has sought to develop a far-reaching policy regarding persons with disabilities. However, to date, eu non-discrimination legislation does not provide any clear legal definition of what constitutes a disability. The Court of Justice of the European Union (cjeu) has attempted to fill this gap and, in several decisions, has elaborated on the concept of disability and its meaning under eu law. The cjeu, with reference to the application of the Employment Equality Directive, has explained the notion of disability mainly by comparing and contrasting it to the concept of sickness. Against this background, this article critically discusses recent case law and attempts to highlight that, even though the Court has firmly embraced the social model of disability envisaged by the un Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the boundaries between the concepts of sickness and disability remain blurred.

Medicne pravo ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 86-94
Author(s):  
R. B. Hobor

In spite of all the short-comings, the level of protection of rights and capabilities of people with disabilities has become a good indicator of nation’s development, and such a trend is nothing but hopeful. At the same time, one can hardly imagine that this high attitude would be attainable without the influence of left liberal ideologies, that among omnibus achievements granted the shift from medical to social disabilities model.This situation cannot stand but to resemble in a certain state of rights and capabilities exercise, and even the availability of access to the key resources is impossible to bring to the point of marginalization of the mental and physical health problems. As the analyzed material shows, left liberal ideologists,being responsible for shaping the current International Law on Persons with Disabilities, finally succeeded in promoting their principle ideas in the nation case-law. The right to water, lay down on the ship’s practice, as you will look lower, you can use the clever illustration of that relief flow, as the national judiciary can fix the development of the rights and capabilities of individuals from the same basis.The article further develops the idea, that national courts sometimes tend to use realistic approach (as invented by R. Pound, J. Llewellyn, O.W. Holmes) for the sake of implementing the social model of disability. It has been concluded that legal realism is a transmitter for left liberal values in the modern western societies.


2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 353-362
Author(s):  
Anne Pieter van der Mei

This contribution presents an overview of the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union in the period April–September 2017 on social security matters. The relevant rulings concern first and foremost the rules determining the applicable legislation as enshrined in Regulation 883/2004 and Regulation 1408/71. In addition, the Court of Justice has delivered important rulings concerning posted worker and the binding effect of A1 certificates, the social security rights of third country nationals holding a single-permit and the protection of social rights in the context of financial crisis and austerity measures.


2020 ◽  
pp. 203195252094533
Author(s):  
Vincent Février

The Concept of worker is the gateway to the access to the protection of labour and social security law. The Court of Justice of the European Union first defined this concept in the field of the Free Movement of Workers in the Lawrie-Blum case. The scope of this article is to compare the definitions used by the Court in the fields of the free movement of workers and in the Social Policy Directives, in order to ascertain to which extent they can differ. Our in-depth analysis of the case law offers a nuanced picture. On one hand, it highlights that the Court tries to extend the application of the Lawrie-Blum formula to Directives which do not refer back to the national definitions of a worker, but that specificities remain in this area, like the emphasis on the link of subordination. On the other hand, for Directives referring to a national concept of workers, the Court began recently to state that, even if the competence of the Member States on this question must be acknowledged, it is not limitless.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 (23) ◽  
pp. 25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katerina Kazou

This article challenges the generally accepted view that the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2006 (CRPD) is based on the ‘social model of disability’. The ‘social model’ understands disability as a social situation, and particularly a form of social oppression imposed on people with impairments, which is caused by social and environmental barriers that exclude them from participating in society and which is entirely distinguished from their individual impairment. The article argues that the definition of disability in the CRPD is closer to the definition provided in WHO’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). The ICF understands disability as the multi-dimensional and interactive experience of a wide range of difficulties in functioning; in particular, these difficulties include impairments, limitations in performing activities and restrictions in participating in life situations, and arise out of the complex interaction between health conditions, personal factors and barriers in the physical and social environment. Associating the CRPD with the ICF rather than the ‘social model’ might have positive implications for its implementation, as it can avoid the criticism faced by the ‘social model’ for its limitations, especially for considering impairment as being entirely irrelevant to the experience of disability, and therefore governments and policy makers might be less sceptical towards the CRPD and more willing to engage with it. At the same time, the valuable insights of the ‘social model’ regarding the disabling effect of social and environmental barriers can be retained, as the ICF recognises this too, but without ignoring the relevance of impairment to the experience of disability or minimising the health needs of persons with disabilities.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 105-126
Author(s):  
Elena Sorokina

The aim of the present article is to analyse the concept of a “court or tribunal” and its meaning within the preliminary ruling procedure of Article 267 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The extensive case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union confirms the need for such analyse. The concept of a “court or tribunal” is one of EU law. There is no abstract definition of a “court or tribunal” in the Treaties and other EU legal acts. Also the Court of Justice has never clarified what a court or tribunal is under Article 267 TFEU. However, according to the Court of Justice’s practice a number of organizational and functional criteria are relevant for determining when a national body can make a preliminary reference. The Court of Justice does not focus on the nomes iuris of a body or its status in the national judicial system. In addition, the Court of Justice examines whether the body making the request for a preliminary ruling is a court or tribunal of a particular EU member state. It is also clear from the Court of Justice’s case law that not all of the different criteria have to be unconditionally met in order for a body to qualify as a court or tribunal that may refer preliminary questions and that some carry considerable more weight than others. It is possible to find a number of the Court of Justice decisions which may qualify in some respect too flexible and insufficiently consistent, with a lack of legal certainty, when requests for a preliminary ruling are declared admissible despite jurisdictional status of national bodies are being questionable. Still, such practice of the Court of Justice and flexibility approach take into account the changes occurring at national level and to be able to develop its case-law abreast of those changes. However, the opposite tendency emerges and the Court of Justice taking a more restrictive position than in previous pronouncements. The Court of Justice pays increasing attention to the criterion of independence when national body’s make a preliminary reference. Such an approach allows a further consistent development of case law specifying both the scope of application and the content of the criterion of independence by the Court of Justice and contributes to optimising the mechanism of cooperation in the preliminary ruling procedure.


Lexonomica ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Maria Dymitruk ◽  
Jacek Gołaczyński ◽  
Maria Kaczorowska ◽  
Piotr Rodziewicz

The subject of the article is to analyse and compare the specificity of judgments and authentic instruments in terms of cross-border recognition and enforcement under the Brussels I Recast Regulation framework. Particular focus has been put on the practical aspects of the definition of an authentic instrument. Selected detailed issues arising against this background have been discussed with reference to the Polish legal order as well as the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). Based on the undertaken considerations, some proposals have been formulated regarding the enhancement of the free circulation of authentic instruments within the European Union.


Author(s):  
Lisa Waddington

The EU’s accession to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) implies an important role for the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). Given that the Court has the task of interpreting the CRPD as an instrument of EU law and, in particular, ensuring that EU secondary legislation is interpreted in a manner which is compatible with the Convention wherever possible, it is not surprising to find references to the CRPD in a number of judgments and Opinions of its Advocate General rendered both before, and primarily after, the conclusion of the CRPD by the EU. This chapter explores those judgments and Opinions in some depth, looking at the status of international agreements concluded by the EU; how the CRPD has been incorporated into EU law; and discussing case law that has referred to the CRPD, and analysing the extent to and way in which the CJEU has interpreted the CRPD.


2020 ◽  
Vol 89 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 286-302
Author(s):  
Ségolène Barbou des Places

Abstract To understand how the Court of Justice of the European Union (cjeu) assesses the proportionality of restrictive national measures, one has to depart from the canonical reading of internal market law cases. An alternative reading of the cjeu case law, focusing on the “who” rather than on the “how”, is possible. This article argues that the control of proportionality should not be viewed as an abstract reasoning aiming at comparing the respective importance and value of the norms in conflict, but rather as an evaluation based upon the thorough description of the social reality of the persons whose life and interests are either affected or protected by the challenged restrictive measure. Because it analyses the control of proportionality as a social narrative elaborated by the judge, the article can demonstrate that among the roles conferred by the proportionality narrative to different characters, the most determinant ones are played by persons standing behind the scene: the “archetypal characters”.


Author(s):  
Renata Mieńkowska-Norkiene

Conceptual framework for understanding the degree and scope of the political impact of the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union – Definition of ‘the political’ – Carl Schmitt’s concept of political realism – Chantal Mouffe’s agonistic theory of ‘the political’ – ‘The political’ in the light of three classical categories: (1) polity, (2) policy, and (3) politics – Framework for understanding polity as competing values, policy as conflicts over resources, politics as fights for power – Criteria of political significance and impact of the Court of Justice case law – Two illustrations: Case C-391/09 Runevič-Vardyn v Vilniaus miesto savivaldybės administracija and Case C-192/18 European Commission v Republic of Poland set against the broader context of politically significant cases from the Court of Justice of the European Union.


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