Public Security Revisited

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 332-358
Author(s):  
Timo Knäbe ◽  
Hervé Yves Caniard
Keyword(s):  
Coast Guard ◽  
Public Access ◽  
Public Security ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Central Mediterranean ◽  
The Public ◽  
Operational Information ◽  
Subjective Rights ◽  
First Time

Abstract With its Judgment of 27 November 2019 in Case T-31/18 Luisa Izuzquiza and Arne Semsrott v European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex), the Court of Justice of the European Union opened a new chapter in the elaboration of the two seemingly antagonistic interests enshrined in Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents: the public’s fundamental right to transparency versus the public’s interest as regards “public security”. Focusing on the evolution of “public security” in the EU since 1993, this case note analyses the CJEU’s balancing of these principles, its increased scrutiny of Frontex administrative decisions, and the extent to which Frontex had to justify its denial to grant access to documents through the lens of the management of sensitive operational information. This examination puts the judgment in the context of the ongoing situation in the central Mediterranean and, by providing detailed insights on the underlying operational considerations, shows that the fundamental and wide-reaching right to transparency has to be balanced with the need to protect crew and vessels and the implementation and enforcement of the Frontex mandate. While continuing established case law in its use of the public security exception (a so-called absolute exception that is not subject to an overriding public interest test), in this case the CJEU subsumed, for the first time, individual subjective rights and legal interests under public security. This article argues that this amounts to the individualisation of public security. As pointed out by Frontex in its written and oral defence, the CJEU thus opened the door to extending the scope of public security to also include other groups of people in the government’s continuous and exclusive de jure and de facto control. The conclusion from the Frontex Case is thus that protecting life at sea and ensuring effective border surveillance are two sides of the same medal as they have a common aim: combatting human smugglers, traffickers in human beings and other criminals and safeguarding life, safety and physical integrity of law-enforcement crew and migrants alike.

Opening the Public Accessibility to the Wreckage of the RMS Titanic: Some Ethical Reflections

2021 ◽  
pp. 245592962110534
Author(s):  
Alberto Frigerio
Keyword(s):  
Public Access ◽  
The Public ◽  
Ethical Approaches ◽  
Ethical Reflections ◽  
First Time

In 2021, Ocean Gate Expeditions allowed people to visit the remains of the RMS Titanic. While this is not the first time that the site has been accessed for touristic aims, this case has, once again, opened the debate about the ethics of such experiences. The key dilemma is if permitting the public access to a natural graveyard, such as the wreck of the Titanic, should be considered as an acceptable practice or an immoral act that must be banned. Notwithstanding the sensitive arguments raised against the organization of similar initiatives, the visit to the RMS Titanic seems to be a valuable and legitimate practice according to diverse ethical approaches.

Data sharing, international property practices and the GDPR: communicating with your consumers

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucy Cradduck ◽  
Scarlett Stevens ◽  
Matthew Cowan
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Public Access ◽  
European Economic Area ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Content Type ◽  
General Data Protection Regulation ◽  
The Public ◽  
Business Partners ◽  
General Data

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) in order to: identify its requirements for the Australian and New Zealand based members of multi-national property firms (“MNPF”); and understand how those firms are currently engaging with customers regarding the obligations the GDPR imposes.Design/methodology/approachThe research was undertaken by means of doctrinal legal research that engaged with statutory law, related policy documents, accessible private firm documents and website materials, and academic and other related writings. The authors considered these in the context of the GDPR's requirements, and how relevant obligations were communicated to the public on the MNPF Australian and New Zealand members' websites.FindingsThe research confirms the available literature's observations of the GDPR's broad reach and the firms to which it applies. The difficulties experienced in locating relevant information highlights the need for a change to firm processes to ensure that any communication obligations are met. The cases engaged with also serve to highlight the need to ensure that the actual practice is consistent with required GDPR processes.Research limitations/implicationsThe research faced three limitations. First: there was a limited number of relevant Australian and New Zealand based property related firms available to consider: not all property related firms were members of a MNPF or had business partners or customers/clients in the European Union or European Economic Area. Second: one of the relevant firms had already identified it was withdrawing from the Australian market. Third: there was a lack of public access to all materials as, while privacy policies as required by domestic laws were readily accessible, access was not readily available to GDPR related or required information or documents.Originality/valueThe research adds to the academic literature in this emerging area of international legal obligation.

scholarly journals Transparency in EU Trade Policy: A Comprehensive Assessment of Current Achievements

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 261-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Axel Marx ◽  
Guillaume Van der Loo
Keyword(s):  
Trade Policy ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Public Access ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Implementation Phase ◽  
The Public ◽  
Institutional Actors ◽  
The Eu

<p>The EU trade policy is increasingly confronted with demands for more transparency. This article aims to investigate how transparency takes shape in EU trade policy. First, we operationalize the concept of transparency along two dimensions: a process dimension and an actor dimension. We then apply this framework to analysis of EU Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). After analyzing transparency in relation to FTAs from the perspective of the institutional actors (Commission, Council and Parliament), the different instruments and policies that grant the public actors (civil society and citizens) access to information and documents about EU FTAs are explored by discussing Regulation 1049/2001, which provides for public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents, and the role of the European Ombudsman. The article is based on an analysis of official documents, assessments in the academic literature and case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union. The ultimate aim is to assess current initiatives and identify relevant gaps in the EU’s transparency policies. This article argues that the EU has made significant progress in fostering transparency in the negotiation phase of FTAs, but less in the implementation phase.</p>

scholarly journals EUROPEAN BORDERS IN TURBULENT TIMES: THE CASE OF THE CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN ‘EXTENDED BORDERLAND’

Politeja ◽  
1970 ◽  
Vol 14 (5 (50)) ◽  
Author(s):  
Artur Gruszczak
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Mediterranean Area ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Central Mediterranean ◽  
Turbulent Times ◽  
Maritime Operations ◽  
Migration Crisis ◽  
Conventional Systems ◽  
The Eu

EUROPEAN BORDERS IN TURBULENT TIMES: THE CASE OF THE CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN ‘EXTENDED BORDERLAND’ This article presents one of the most salient aspects of the migration crisis in the EU, namely the turbulent management of external borders, and analyzing it in the case of the central region of the Mediterranean Sea. The study is focused on risks and threats to the security of the European Union and its member states, particularly Italy, posed by negative aspects of migratory flows and accompanying phenomena such as migrant smuggling, trafficking in human beings, drug smuggling or document frauds. For this purpose, a concept of ‘extended borderland’ is applied as particularly suitable for analyzing border-security policies and actions undertaken by the European Union. The argument developed in this article is that the Central Mediterranean area has been converted into an extended borderland where conventional systems, methods and tools of border management are superseded by spatial taming created by international actors acting through joint maritime operations.

scholarly journals Dissonance in the discourse: A consumer’s lens to national security

Unity Journal ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 33-38
Author(s):  
Chiran Jung Thapa
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
National Security ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
General Public ◽  
Security Policy ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Public Security ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Public ◽  
Consumer Identity

This paper attempts to demonstrate the dissonance between the highlighted themes placing people at the epicenter and yet excluding the general public and their actual security needs, examines national security from a consumer’s perspective. To underscore a dissonance in the discourse on national security, the writer explores the paradigm of national security policy. Then, it illustrates the discord between the public security needs in their everyday life and the outlined threats in the national security documents. To validate the above argument, the paper offers a new avenue on the overlooked consumer identity of human beings and demonstrates the probability and impact of threats to national security by means of the qualitative data analysis.

Access to EU Documents: An End at Last to the Authorship Rule?

2007 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
pp. 440-448
Author(s):  
Moritz von Unger
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Law ◽  
Blind Spot ◽  
Public Access ◽  
Legal Regime ◽  
The Public ◽  
European Court ◽  
Aarhus Convention ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
First Time ◽  
Do So

AbstractThe key legal text governing public access to EU documents is Regulation 1049/2001. In contrast to the previous legal regime, the Regulation dismisses the so called authorship rule, which aligns it with recent developments in the field of the law of transparency and, notably, of international environmental law (Aarhus Convention). The European institutions are hence tasked with making all documents accessible to the public, which include both those originating with them and those from third parties. Yet unlike the Aarhus Convention, the Regulation has a blind spot, which leads to the important question of whether a Member State can simply order the institutions to withhold any of its documents whenever it chooses to do so. For the first time, the European Court of Justice is being asked to hand down a judgment on this question. The author suggests that the Court may wish to consider an interpretation of Regulation 1049/2001 that adjusts it further to the international standard as set by the Aarhus Convention.

scholarly journals Immigrants in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and Its Public Security

2021 ◽  
pp. 115-137
Author(s):  
Paweł Olbrycht
Keyword(s):  
Public Safety ◽  
Statistical Data ◽  
Social Characteristics ◽  
Public Security ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Main Hypothesis ◽  
The Public ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Grand Duchy

The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is one of the smallest European countries – both in terms of area and population. As in the case of the so-called European micro-states (with less than 500,000 inhabitants – Luxembourg alone has slightly more), it is characterized by a high economic level, especially the living standards of its inhabitants. As the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s statistical data show (official OECD website), the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is the wealthiest Member State of the European Union in terms of average annual income per capita (gross domestic product per capita). Due to this fact, foreigners-immigrants continuously come to this country by seeking better living conditions there. It was, therefore, reasonable to explore how this high proportion of immigrants in Luxembourg’s society influences the public security of that country. Luxembourg has one of the highest economic immigration rates in Europe, the number of its citizens is continually growing, and yet the crime rates are among the lowest in the world. The article aims to explore the impact of the presence of many immigrants in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg on public security of that country. The article focuses on the main threat to public safety, i.e., crime – in the analysed case: the crime committed by foreigners-immigrants. The main research problem took the form of the question: To what extent does the presence of a significant number of immigrants affect the public safety of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg? The main hypothesis took the form of the assumption that the presence of large numbers of immigrants does not have a significant adverse effect on the public safety of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. The adopted research method was the analysis of statistical data using the technique of content analysis (desk research). World Bank statistics were used as the primary source of information, while articles from scientific journals and reports from Luxembourg public administration bodies as supplementary sources. To deepen the exploration and understanding of the migration conditions of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the article presents its history as well as economic and social characteristics. The research was carried out as part of the Research Project No. 146/WNB/65/DzS called: “The Migration Policy of the Republic of Poland as an Indicator of Its Internal Security”, carried out at Faculty of Security Studies of General Tadeusz Kościuszko Military University of Land Forces (Wrocław, Poland).

scholarly journals The Anaemic Existence of the Overriding Public Interest in Disclosure in the EU’s Access to Documents Regime

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 686-701
Author(s):  
Daniel Wyatt
Keyword(s):  
Public Interest ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Public Access ◽  
Critical Examination ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Public ◽  
Critical Commentary ◽  
Access To Documents ◽  
The Eu

AbstractAccording to Regulation 1049/2001, which creates the EU’s public access to documents regime, all EU documents should hypothetically be publicly accessible, except for those that fall within explicitly protected interests. A number of these exceptions to disclosure, however, function such that documents covered by them do not have to be disclosed if their release would harm a protected interest unless there is an “overriding public interest in disclosure” exists in the circumstances. The purpose of this Article is to offer a critical examination of this concept of the overriding public interest as interpreted by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). In the first part, the notion of the public interest generally is discussed from a theoretical perspective. Following this, a thorough analysis of case law concerning the overriding public interest is presented. Finally, this Article presents a critical commentary of the CJEU’s understanding of the concept. This Article essentially seeks to argue, inter alia, that the CJEU’s interpretation has resulted in democratically unaccountable bureaucrats of the EU effectively becoming the sole arbiters of the existence and content of the overriding public interest in disclosure under Regulation 1049/2001, a situation that is fundamentally unsatisfactory.

Vision oder Utopie? Junge Ideen für die Zukunft Europas

IG ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-157
Author(s):  
Friederike Augustin ◽  
Jana Schubert
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
The European Union ◽  
European Elections ◽  
The Public ◽  
European Election ◽  
Democratic Principles ◽  
Combat Climate Change ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Eu

Although most of the first-time voters and young citizens of the European Union (EU) share a positive attitude towards the EU, less than 30 percent cast their votes in the European elections of 2014. Against this backdrop, this year’s European election campaigns particularly focused on young people aged 15 to 24. In that sense, the youth participation project #EngagEU aimed at motivating young people to vote in the European elections 2019 and at empowering them to formulate concrete political demands. Summarised in the manifesto “Young Ideas for the Future of Europe”, their ideas were presented to the public as well as to Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on 30 April 2019 at the #1stYoung Ci⁠tizens’Convention organised by the Institut für Europäische Politik and discussed with young can­di­da⁠tes for the European elections. Technology-based solutions to combat climate change and an independent monitoring capacity for EU values and democratic principles are concrete demands that political decision-makers might take up in the aftermath of the European elections.

scholarly journals Coping with neo-nomadic mobility: Frontex’s agent power in the EU’s extended borderland

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 33-63
Author(s):  
Artur Gruszczak
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Coast Guard ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Central Mediterranean ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Return Policy ◽  
Joint Operations ◽  
Migratory Movements ◽  
Desk Research

Migration movements to Europe, triggered by dramatic political and social developments in North Africa and the Middle East, have contributed to a decrease in the level of security in the European Union and to the crisis of this organization. This article addresses the issue of migration in the context of the phenomenon of neo-nomadism and its effects on the policies of the member states of the European Union, as well as its institutions and agencies. The consequences of neo-nomadism are analyzed in regard to ​​the EU’s "extended borderland" on the example of the activities of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) in the Central Mediterranean. Frontex’s joint operations "Triton" and "Themis" serve as a useful frame of reference in examining this agency’s "agent power" expressed in activities concerning migratory movements in the EU's "extended borderland". The hypothesis developed in this article holds that the dynamics of mobility resulting from the specific features of neo-nomadism activates the "agent power" of entities involved in mobility and border management in two forms: inclusionary, for humanitarian reasons, and exclusionary, for the sake of security. As an agency responsible for supporting the management of the EU's external borders and implementing return policy, Frontex has concentrated its agent power on securing territory, borders and population at the expense of humanitarian search-and-rescue operations. Joint operations "Triton" and "Themis" have clearly highlighted the trend towards an exclusionary approach to migrants. Post-functionalism referring to the original conceptualisation put forward by Hooghe and Marx is the theoretical frame adopted in the present study. The research method is qualitative, based on desk research includng the analysis and interpretation of primary and secondary sources.

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