scholarly journals More Powers – More Problems: the European Parliament against the Frontex Agency

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 41-47
Author(s):  
Olga Potemkina ◽  
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Coast Guard ◽  
Search And Rescue ◽  
Asylum Policy ◽  
The Press ◽  
Legal Justification ◽  
Migrants Rights ◽  
Maritime Search And Rescue ◽  
The Eu

The article analyses the accusations made by the press against the Frontex agency (The European Border and Coast Guard Agency – EBCG). Media investigations have revealed noncompliance with the norms of European and international law in the agency’s operations, including violations of migrants’ rights during maritime search and rescue operations: pushback of boats, abuse of authority during return of those who were refused asylum. The author presents the positions of the Council and the Commission, emphasizing that the activities and reputation of the EBCG are very important for the EU leadership, since the agency’s reform is one of the few points of the program document «Pact on Migration and Asylum» that does not cause objections from the Member States. The article also touches upon the issues of arming the agency’s personnel, which cannot be organized without a clear legal justification. While agreeing with the Commission’s assertion that the increased attention to Frontex’s activities is due to the prospects for expanding its powers, staff and funding, the author still concludes that the agency’s problems reflect the unsatisfactory state of the EU’s migration and asylum policy.

scholarly journals EU Operational Powers and Legal Protection: A Legal Theory Perspective on the Operational Powers of the European Border and Coast Guard

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 625-649
Author(s):  
Bas Schotel
Keyword(s):  
Legal Theory ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Blind Spot ◽  
Public Law ◽  
Coast Guard ◽  
Public Power ◽  
Legal Constraints ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Eu

AbstractFor the first time in its history, the EU is in the process of acquiring significant and genuine permanent operational powers. A new Regulation on the European Border and Coast Guard provides Frontex with a permanent corps of 10,000 border guards—3,000 of which will be EU agents—its own equipment, and its own competences to intervene along the EU borders and beyond. The operational powers will allow the EU to directly and physically intervene in tangible reality.This Article argues that the conferral of operational powers on the EU poses a risk to individual legal protection. This is because once authorities have acquired operational powers of a certain extent and quality, they can afford to act against or without the law by simply overpowering or eluding the legal mechanisms that normally constrain the exercise of public power. So far, Members of the European Parliament and academics critical of Frontex and the new Regulation have overlooked this issue and concentrated exclusively on how to legally constrain the exercise of operational powers. This Article addresses this blind spot by examining whether and how public law should place legal constraints not only on the exercise but also on the build-up of operational powers.

scholarly journals EU Search and Rescue Activities in the Mediterranean

European View ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-18
Author(s):  
Lena Düpont
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
International Law ◽  
Search And Rescue ◽  
Legal Obligation ◽  
Migration Routes ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Eu

This article focuses on the EU’s search and rescue activities in the Mediterranean, the location of some of the world’s deadliest migration routes. It argues that saving lives at sea is not an act of grace, nor of simple solidarity with those at risk. Rather, it is first and foremost a legal obligation under international law. Understanding this fact is essential when engaging in the underlying and frequently misleading debate on our humanitarian obligation to render assistance to people in distress at sea. The article also makes the point that the EU must clearly distinguish between economic migrants and refugees in need of humanitarian protection, and prioritise dedicating its resources to those genuinely in need of safeguarding. Legal pathways and humanitarian corridors can only be set up for refugees.

scholarly journals Current and Prospective Roles of the Arctic Council System within the Context of the Law of the Sea

2012 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 553-595 ◽  
Author(s):  
E.J. Molenaar
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Regional Cooperation ◽  
Institutional Structure ◽  
Search And Rescue ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
Arctic Council ◽  
The Law ◽  
Maritime Search And Rescue

Abstract This article examines the current and prospective roles of the Arctic Council System (ACS) within the context of the (international) law of the sea. Its first part focuses on the role of regional cooperation under the law of sea, with special attention to the way in which the pacta tertiis principle has shaped some regional regimes. The second part examines current features of the Arctic Council, including its mandate and main approaches, participation and institutional structure. The new concept of the ACS is offered to clarify the connection between the Arctic Council and the 2011 Agreement on Cooperation in Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue in the Arctic and future legally binding instruments negotiated under the Council’s auspices, but not adopted by it. The article concludes with a synthesis of the current and prospective roles of the ACS under the law of the sea.

Northern Irish issue threatens EU-UK trade relations

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
International Law ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Northern Irish ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Trade Relations ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Eu

Significance The manner of the UK move is not only damaging for the implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol (NIP), but also has the potential to affect the wider EU-UK trading relationship. Impacts Low levels of trust will make it difficult for the EU and UK teams to find practical solutions to the NIP’s implementation. A further deterioration in EU-UK relations over the NIP could threaten the ratification of the EU-UK trade deal in the European Parliament. The United Kingdom’s threats to break international law threaten to damage its credibility among foreign and international actors.

The Sinking of the I’m Alone

1929 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 351-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
William C. Dennis
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
International Law ◽  
Short Distance ◽  
The United States ◽  
Coast Guard ◽  
United States Coast Guard ◽  
The Press ◽  
Considerable Discussion ◽  
High Seas

The sinking on the high seas of the Canadian registered schooner I’m Alone as a suspected rum runner resisting boarding for enquiry (visit and search) by the United States Coast Guard patrol boat Dexter after a two days chase from a point a short distance off the coast of Louisiana, has given rise to considerable discussion in the press of the United States and Great Britain, and suggests several interesting questions of international law and treaty construction.

Countries will want EU solution to migration

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Coast Guard ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Central Mediterranean ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Border Controls ◽  
The Eu

Subject Europe's immigration challenge. Significance On March 27 EU leaders agreed to extend Operation Sophia, the mission aimed at curtailing smuggling in the Mediterranean Sea, by six months. Under revised terms, the EU mission will no longer deploy naval assets, but will continue to deploy aerial assets and train Libya’s coast guard to strengthen that country’s border controls. The compromise to abandon naval assets is aimed at appeasing Italy, which opposes the mission as the vast majority of migrants rescued in the Central Mediterranean are brought to Italian ports. Impacts Divergence over immigration could prevent Europe’s far-right parties from forming a stable alliance in the European Parliament. The number of migrants forcibly returned to Libya will likely increase. Humanitarian NGO ships will continue to operate in the Central Mediterranean, but could face criminalisation from Italy.

Irregular Migration by Sea: Interception and Rescue Interventions in Light of International Law and the EU Sea Borders Regulation

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enkelejda Koka ◽  
Denard Veshi
Keyword(s):  
Legal Framework ◽  
Search And Rescue ◽  
International Convention ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Irregular Migrants ◽  
Syrian Civil War ◽  
Legal Frameworks ◽  
Maritime Search And Rescue ◽  
Of Greece ◽  
The Eu

Abstract Since 2011, due to the Syrian civil war, Libya’s institutional breakdown and Eritrea’s political unrest, record high numbers of irregular migrants have been arriving at the EU’s south-eastern external borders, publicly known as the ‘Europe’s refugee crisis’. The most pressurised borders have been those of Greece and Italy. The human smuggler’s ‘organised refugee’ strategy has identified various legal issues resulting from the application of parallel legal frameworks both at regional and at international level. The EU Member States’ policy-making response to human smuggling has created loopholes through conflicting interpretations of the international legal framework on search and rescue and the inconsistent application of human rights law. Hence, this article will argue that although the International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue (SAR) and the EU Sea Borders Regulation purportedly adopted to set out clear rules on when to initiate search and rescue, have not addressed the issue of responsibility for and the consequences of failed rescue scenarios by inactive SAR States; thereby creating a gap in the legal framework on State responsibility for negligent or intentional failed rescues.

Prawo obywateli Unii Europejskiej do czynnego i biernego udziału w wyborach parlamentarnych w kraju członkowskim miejsca pobytu

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (4 (1)) ◽  
pp. 23-37
Author(s):  
Marek Danikowski
Keyword(s):  
Member State ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
European Democracy ◽  
The Right ◽  
Insufficient Knowledge ◽  
The Eu

The right of EU citizens residing in another Member State, to vote and stand in elections to the European Parliament is a major achievement of the European democracy. In the light of EU citizens’ still insufficient knowledge concerning the opportunities and benefits brought in by this right, it is worth making this institution more familiar to themin a straightforward way, at the same time balancing criticism towards the idea of the EU.

Constitutional and Legal Restrictions in the European Union Countries in the Context of the COVID 19 Pandemic

2020 ◽  
pp. 92-97
Author(s):  
A. V. Kuznetsov
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
International Law ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Eu Countries ◽  
European Union Countries ◽  
Legal Restrictions ◽  
Restrictive Measures ◽  
The Eu

The article examines the norms of international law and the legislation of the EU countries. The list of main provisions of constitutional and legal restrictions in the European Union countries is presented. The application of the norms is described Human rights conventions. The principle of implementing legal acts in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic is considered. A comparative analysis of legal restrictive measures in the States of the European Union is carried out.

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