Can Kosovo be considered as a ‘third country’ in the meaning of EU law? Case note to Spain v. Commission

Author(s):  
Celia Challet ◽  
Pierre Bachelier

The question of the recognition of the independence of Kosovo has been a dividing factor among Member States for more than a decade. Never before, however, had it led to an action for annulment before European courts. In Spain v. Commission, the Kingdom of Spain challenged the validity of a Commission decision providing for the participation of Kosovo’s national regulation authority in the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC). The General Court ruled that the Commission could consider Kosovo as a third country in order to provide for the participation of its national regulation authority in BEREC. The Commission could also rely on the Stabilisation and Association Agreement concluded between the EU and Kosovo in order to enhance such cooperation. This judgment is of particular importance in terms of both EU-Kosovo relations and participation of third countries in EU agencies.

1998 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 369-432 ◽  
Author(s):  

AbstractThe main purpose of this article is to provide a framework of international legal conventions which may amount to an 'umbrella regime' for EU member states as regards their treatment of Turkish migrants, thus supplementing the protection already available in domestic law. To this end, the study pulls together analyses of relevant parts of international and supra-national law within the context of Turkish migrants in Europe which are applicable in protecting the rights of immigrants. In particular, the Ankara Association Agreement of 1963 and its components have put Turkish migrants in a more favourable position than most of the other non-EU migrants, hence creating a sort of 'intermediate' regime for them. The study has confirmed that the developments under the EU law have remained and will remain the main source of progress as far as the rights of Turkish migrants are concerned. Nevertheless, it also draws attention to a significant counter effect of such positive developments; that is, the danger of unwillingness on the part of the EU member states to enlarge the scope of the rights granted to Turkish immigrants under the above-mentioned legal frameworks.


Author(s):  
Maryna Semenova

Problem setting. The Court of the European Union is a central term, which characterizes the entire court system of the European Union, which, without a doubt, includes three lanes: the Court of Justice, the Zagalny Court and special judges. Such an institute is aimed at accepting new acts of legal form and legal significance, and the very decision, the decision of the institution. The acceptance of such acts is a manifestation of the implementation of the judicial competence of the named institution, however, the link with the system is determined by the following: which may be the reason for the nature of precedent practice; both the established stench for the use of the Court itself by the Court of Justice itself, as well as by the other institutions, which have been approved by Article 13 of the Treaty on the European Union; what is the decision of the Court EU norms of law EU. Analysis of the meaningful nutrition is the subject of a complete dosage. Analysis of recent researches and publications. The legal meaning of the decision to the Court of the European Union and the possibility of implementing such decisions before the legislation of Ukraine. Target of research is to examine the status of decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union as a precedent. Article’s main body. The research is devoted to the analysis of the legal significance of the decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union on the application of acts of the legislation of the Energy Community in the field of energy by the courts of Ukraine in resolving relevant disputes. It is noted that the Court of Justice of the EU is a judicial institution of another legal order, an international organization – the European Union, whose practice is fundamental to the development of the rule of law in the European Union. However, it is stated that the national courts of the EU member states are tasked with the daily application of EU law in accordance with the principles of supremacy, direct action and responsibility of member states for compliance with EU law. It is established that the legal basis for the functioning of the electricity market is the Constitution of Ukraine, special laws, international treaties of Ukraine, approved by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and other legislation of Ukraine, according to which the subjects of power and courts In applying the provisions of this Law, the law enforcement practice of the Energy Community and the European Union shall be taken into account, in particular decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union (European Court of Justice, General Court), the European Commission and the Energy Community Secretariat. Conclusions and prospects for the development. A systematic analysis of the norms of national and international law allows us to conclude that the provisions of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU are part of the national legislation of Ukraine, its provisions are mandatory and binding throughout Ukraine. Therefore, the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union is applicable to the courts of Ukraine in resolving disputes concerning the application of energy legislation in the field of energy by other member states in full in the same manner as for the application of European Court of Human Rights.


Author(s):  
Malysheva Natalii

After the full entry into force on 01.09.2017 of the EU – Ukraine Association Agreement one of the main tasks of its implementation was to align Ukraine's national legislation with EU law. The Agreement itself, as well as the annexes thereto, set out both the directions of this process and the specific provisions of EU acts (directives and regulations) to align with national legislation of Ukraine and timeframes of these actions. An important area of harmonization in the context of the Association Agreement’s obligations is environmental protection; its main vectors are set out in Chapter 6 "Environment" of Section V "Economic and Sectorial Cooperation" (Art. 360–366) and in Annexes XXX and XXI to the relevant Chapter 6. In total, following the Annex XXX, Ukraine has to adapt its legislation to the provisions of 26 EU directives and 3 regulations. Since that time both successes in Ukraine's implementation of the EU environmental acquis, as well as weaknesses, problems and difficulties in way to bring the legislation into compliance were revealed. Positive impact on implementation of the Agreement’s requirements was, in particular, the creation of bilateral and national mechanisms for monitoring the implementation of the Agreement, both at the institutional, organizational, legal and procedural levels, for analyze the implementation of Ukraine's commitments on a permanent or periodic basis. Among the main problems which arise during bringing to compliance are the following: lack/insufficiency of a systematic approach in the harmonization process, failure to take into account strategic guidelines and perspective development of EU environmental law, on the one hand, and features of the Ukrainian legal system, on the other hand; attempting to formally transpose EU law without proper link to national environmental law. Finally, there are many environmental issues, the regulation of which is inert to the factors of harmonization with EU law, but is important for domestic national regulation. Unfortunately, in recent years, these aspects of the development of environmental legislation of Ukraine have been constantly neglected, and all legislative activity in the environmental field has been fully focused on bringing the legislation in line with the requirements of the Association Agreement.


Author(s):  
Helena U. Vrabec

Chapter 2 shows that EU law protects individuals and their data through several provisions of primary and secondary law, which, in many aspects, complement each other. EU primary law refers to the body of treaties which represent the agreement of the EU Member States and form the foundation of the EU. EU secondary law is a specific manifestation of more general fundamental principles of EU law. It comprises unilateral acts such as regulations and directives that enable the EU to exercise its powers. Recognising that the body of law that adds to individual protection in the big-data age has been evolving, the chapter provides an analysis of the most relevant parts of the primary and secondary legislation.


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (127) ◽  
pp. 68-78
Author(s):  
Victor Muraviov

The signing of the Association Agreement by Ukraine with the European Union and its member-states provides for the country a perspective of its integration in the Union with possible membership in it upon the creation of the free trade area between both partners. The realization of the Association Agreement is carried out on the international and national levels and is exercised by various means-accessions by Ukraine to international treaties, making national laws consistent with legal acts of EU institutions, recognition by Ukraine of national standards of EU Member States, mutual recognition of rules of the other side etc. The effective using of implementation legal tools requires from Ukraine establishing the proper and relevant legal background. Certain prerequisites for the application of the EU law into the Ukrainian legal framework have been existed. Nevertheless, they require be improving and reforming. The legal mechanism for implementing acts of association is still unsettled. It is related to the Council and the Committee of the association decisions. The corresponding mechanism in Ukraine has not been set up. It has the same concern with the European standards. Ukraine has to transpose the array of technical regulations as national standards with the conformity with EU legislation. However, it is not clear how this will be achieved. The article is focused on the analysis of the legal bases of the interaction of the European Union law and the Law of Ukraine. Specially elucidated the questions of the correlation of the EU law and the law of Ukraine, as well as the actual means of the implementation of the EU law in the legal order of Ukraine. The ways of the improvement of the legal mechanism of the realization of the EU law in the internal legal order of Ukraine are determined. There is emphasized that integration of Ukraine into the European Union will require important amendments into Ukrainian Constitution and other national legislation to provide the legal prerequisites for the realization of the EU law in the internal legal order of Ukraine. Special attention is paid to the means of implementation of international legal obligations in Ukraine.


2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 1663-1700 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clelia Lacchi

The Constitutional Courts of a number of Member States exert a constitutional review on the obligation of national courts of last instance to make a reference for a preliminary ruling to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).Pursuant to Article 267(3) TFEU, national courts of last instance, namely courts or tribunals against whose decisions there is no judicial remedy under national law, are required to refer to the CJEU for a preliminary question related to the interpretation of the Treaties or the validity and interpretation of acts of European Union (EU) institutions. The CJEU specified the exceptions to this obligation inCILFIT. Indeed, national courts of last instance have a crucial role according to the devolution to national judges of the task of ensuring, in collaboration with the CJEU, the full application of EU law in all Member States and the judicial protection of individuals’ rights under EU law. With preliminary references as the keystone of the EU judicial system, the cooperation of national judges with the CJEU forms part of the EU constitutional structure in accordance with Article 19(1) TEU.


2021 ◽  
pp. 203195252199115
Author(s):  
Matthijs van Schadewijk

The growth in multilateral working relationships (e.g. agency work, chains of sub-contracting and corporate groups) is causing Member States to increasingly scrutinise their traditional, contractual approach to the notion of ‘employer’. So far, little attention has been paid to the boundaries and limits that EU law sets when defining the employer. The lack of attention may have come to an end with the recent AFMB judgment, in which the Court ruled, for the first time, that the concept of employer in a provision of EU law had to be given an autonomous and uniform interpretation throughout the EU. Starting from the AFMB judgment, the author analyses the concept of employer in EU law. The author finds that the concept of employer in EU law can be described as ‘uniform in its functionality’: in EU law, the national concept of the employer is never absolute, but the circumstances and the way in which the national concept must be set aside depend on the context and the objective of the European legislation in question. Through this functional approach, EU law partly harmonises the various national approaches to the concept of the employer. Nevertheless, a lack of specific reasoning on the part of the Court may grant the Member States considerable leeway to uphold their own views on the concept.


Author(s):  
Ivan Yakovyuk ◽  
Suzanna Asiryan ◽  
Anastasiya Lazurenko

Problem setting. On October 7, 2021, the Constitutional Tribunal of the Republic of Poland ruled in favor of Polish law over European Union law, which in the long run may violate the principles according to which the Union operates and the rights enjoyed by citizens of the state. Such a precedent can further serve as a basis for identical decisions of the bodies of constitutional jurisdiction of those states that have problems in fulfilling their obligations in the European community. Analysis of recent researches and publications. The problems of the functioning of the bodies of the European Union, the implementation of their decisions and the general status in EU law are widely studied in national science. In particular, many scholars have studied the legal nature of the EU, including: TM Anakina, VI Muravyov, NM Ushakov, A. Ya. Kapustina, NA Korolyova, Yu. Yumashev, BN Topornin, OYa Tragniuk, SS Seliverstov, IV Yakovyuk and others. Target of research is to establish the foundations of EU law in the functioning of Union bodies, especially the Court, as well as to determine the hierarchy of national law and EU law. Article’s main body. Over the years, the Court has, within its jurisdiction, issued a large number of judgments which have become the source of the Union’s Constituent Treaties and of EU law in general. Over the last two decades, the powers of the Court of Justice have changed significantly. In particular, this is due to the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty, which amended the EU’s founding treaties on the powers of the Court, then the reform of the European Court took place in 2015-2016, which concerned a change in the organizational structure of the Court. Despite the generally well-established case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union on the unification of the observance by the Member States of the basic principles of the European Union, the Constitutional Tribunal of the Republic of Poland adopted a decision on 7 October. Conclusions and prospects for the development. Following the decision of the Constitutional Court, the Polish authorities found themselves in a situation that significantly complicated its internal and external situation. The way out of which requires answers to fundamental questions about the legal nature of the EU. Undoubtedly, this is an issue not only between Poland and the EU, but also between other member states.


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (16) ◽  
pp. 191-203
Author(s):  
Karolis Kačerauskas

The Slovak hybrid mail services case (or Slovenska posta case) is truly unique in EU jurisprudence. Within the last decade, the European Commission rarely applied Article 106(1) in conjunction with Article 102 TFEU to challenge competition distortions in individual cases. Thus Slovenska posta constitutes one of the rare examples of such enforcement. Slovenska posta also constitutes a very rare example of a judicial review of Commission decisions based on Article 106(1) and 102 TFEU. Slovenska posta is only the second case when European courts were called upon to review the application of Article 106(1) and 102 TFEU by the Commission and the first when the judicial review was conducted over a Commission decision regarding “failure to meet the demand”. Indeed, since 1989–1990 (when the Commission commenced to apply Article 106(1) and 102 TFEU to challenge competition distortions introduced by the Member States) and until 2014, when the Court of Justice adopted its decision in Greek lignite (DEI) case, none of the Commission decisions was reviewed by EU courts. Such lack of appeals resulted in a rather strange situation under which the Commission and CJEU developed their own jurisprudence on the application of Article 106(1) and 102 TFEU and occasionally interpreted the same legal criteria differently. In this regard, a court review in Slovenska posta was eagerly awaited in the hope it would reconcile these diverging positions and provide more clarity on the application of Article 106(1) and 102 TFEU.


Author(s):  
Wojciech Sadowski

AbstractInvestment treaty law and EU law began to develop in the same era and share some important philosophical and axiological foundations. The pressure on the CEE countries to enter into numerous bilateral investment treaties in late 80s and early 90s, in the context of the EU accession aspirations of the former communist countries, was likely to result, eventually, in a conflict between EU law and investment treaty law. The conflict could have been managed in three different ways, yet the CJEU decided in Achmea to declare an undefined volume of intra-EU arbitrations to be incompatible with EU law. This important judgment, which delivered an outcome desired by the European Commission and a number of Member States, is based on questionable legal reasoning that creates high uncertainty in this area of law. The doubts include the scope of application of Achmea, which is now a highly debatable issue. The CJEU itself saw it necessary to limit the scope of Achmea by declaring in Opinion 1/17 (CETA) that the legal reasoning of Achmea did not apply to investment protection treaties with third countries. The Member States of the EU remain politically divided in their views as to whether Achmea applies to the Energy Charter Treaty. And while the problems with the rule of law and independence of the judiciary in certain Member States continue to grow, Achmea has left an important gap for which there is no substitute in the current architecture of the EU legal system.


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