Law and Justice: Scott v. Canada and the History of the Social Covenant with Canadian Veterans

In October 2012, supported by veteran advocacy group Equitas, Canadian Forces veterans of the Afghanistan campaign filed a class action lawsuit against the Federal Government. The case, Scott v. Canada, is named after lead Plaintiff Daniel Scott. In Scott, the Plaintiffs allege that under the recently enacted Canadian Forces Members and Veterans Re-establishment and Compensation Act, commonly known as the New Veterans Charter (NVC), many veterans receive less support than under the previous Pension Act. Further, they allege that the New Veterans Charter is a contravention of the ‘social covenant’ between Canadian citizens, the Canadian government, and past and present Canadian military members and their families. While the limited scope of this paper cannot determine if a legally binding social contract in fact exists, it will engage with the surrounding literature and suggest that there is a well-documented history of veterans enjoying a special relationship with the federal government and Canadian people in the form of legal and social entitlements. This paper will track the many reiterations of Prime Minister Robert Borden’s speech leading up to the creation of the NVC, while illuminating a historic tension between the influences of political, economic, and social policy trends and the upholding of a unique obligation towards those who have served this country militarily. The covenant has always been contextualised by the morality of the times. But it is not just moral; it has legal aspects as well. The reason that veterans are due special treatment is intimately tied to their legal status as a member of the military with exposure to unlimited liability and regulation under the military justice system

Democracy and Digital Authoritarianism: An Assessment of the EU’s External Engagement in the Promotion and Protection of Internet Freedom. College of Europe EU Diplomacy Paper 01/2020

The past decade has seen a gradual global increase in digital authoritarianism. Internet shutdowns, online censorship, mass surveillance and violations of privacy rights have all become more frequent in parts of the world where citizens are not guaranteed sufficient digital rights. The task of defending, promoting and protecting internet freedom is becoming increasingly relevant for the European Union (EU) − for internal digital and cybersecurity policies as well as for the EU’s external promotion of democracy and human rights. Whilst much has been written about the various internal policies which establish and protect internet freedom within the European Union and its member states, the EU’s external engagement in this field remains critically under-researched. To what extent does the EU engage externally in the promotion and protection of internet freedom? This paper answers this question by covering a wide variety of policy fields including human rights and democracy promotion, digital policy, enlargement and neighbourhood policy, development cooperation and trade policy. Whereas the EU faces a limited opportunity to shape global norms with regard to internet freedom or to change the course of digitally authoritarian states, it has demonstrated several strengths which deserve not to be overlooked. These include, for example, the externalisation of internal data protection and policies and the provision of direct support and protection for civil society. Despite facing significant obstacles, the promotion and protection of internet freedom has become an important area of the EU’s external action which is only set to become more relevant in the coming years

Showing true illiberal colours – Rule of law vs Orbán’s pandemic politics. CEPS Policy Insights No 2020-10 / April 2020

This Policy Insight examines the Hungarian government’s responses to the coronavirus pandemic and their impacts on the rule of law. It argues that the pandemic does not create autocracies, but it shows more clearly their true illiberal colours. The paper assesses the scope of the so-called ‘Enabling Act’ granting the government the power to rule by decree and its damaging implications for the effective democratic control of executive actions and other checks and balances such as media pluralism and freedom of association. The analysis argues that the Hungarian government is unequivocally violating the EU founding principles enshrined in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union and its current pandemic politics are making this ever more transparent. The paper recommends more EU centralisation and interinstitutional cooperation in the assessment and scrutiny of all member states’ compliance with the trinity of the rule of law, democracy and fundamental rights. It concretely suggests first, the timely enforcement of EU standards by the European Commission and the Luxembourg Court through rule of law infringement proceedings, and second, the adoption of an interinstitutional EU Periodic Review (EUPR) on the rule of law, democracy and fundamental rights

The double-facing foreign relations function of the executive and its self-enforcing obligation to comply with international law

How does the international Rule of Law apply to constrain the conduct of the Executive within a constitutional State that adopts a dualist approach to the reception of international law? This paper argues that, so far from being inconsistent with the concept of the Rule of Law, the Executive within a dualist constitution has a self-enforcing obligation to abide by the obligations of the State under international law. This is not dependent on Parliament’s incorporation of treaty obligations into domestic law. It is the correlative consequence of the allocation to the Executive of the power to conduct foreign relations. The paper develops this argument in response to recent debate in the United Kingdom on whether Ministers have an obligation to comply with international law–a reference that the Government removed from the Ministerial Code. It shows that such an obligation is consistent with both four centuries of the practice of the British State and with principle

The Political System of the Republic of Turkey, Past and Present

The first constitution of the Ottoman-Turkish Empire was adopted in 1876 – the Kânûn-ı Esâsî (Eng. Fundamental Law). In its history, Turkey has had four constitutions. They were adopted in 1921, 1924, 1961, and 1982, with the latter being presently in force. Nowadays, the creation of a new constitution is the main issue on Turkey’s political agenda. The government of Turkey and Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan want to amend the constitution, and envisage creating an executive presidential system (Tur. Başkanlık sistemi), similar to that of the Russian Federation and the United States. Critics are concerned about what Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s motivation may be. This article analyzes the historical roots of the constitution, its amendments, the presidential system in Turkey and the arguments of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) against the adoption of a presidential system. The key issues that the authors address are the changes that could be made under Turkey’s new constitution and whether all political power would be concentrated in president’s hands

The Regulation of Competition and Innovation in the European Union and Spain: Opportunities for the Philippines and the ASEAN

The Philippines are currently facing a process of regional economic integration inside the ASEAN, in some way similar to the process undertaken by Spain and the European Union decades ago. Since January 2016, the ASEAN has become a Common Market, for whose effective achievement Competition and Innovation Law and Policies may play a crucial role. The scope of these pages is to overview the importance of the regulation in these issues and the promotion of competition within the member States throughout the process of regional economic integration. Then, we will consider the role that Competition and Intellectual Property Law and Policies have played in the construction of the European Union, and we will point out some current challenges that are still to be faced. Finally, we will offer some comparative conclusions considering the importance that these norms and policies will have in the construction of the ASEAN as an economic integrated area, and the way the ASEAN might follow the footsteps set by the European Union in its integration process.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

Europe ́s Coherence Gap in External Crisis and Conflict Management The EU’s Integrated Approach between Political Rhetoric and Institutional Practice. November 2019

The European Union (EU) aspires to play a part in conflict prevention, crisis management and post-conflict peace- building through civil and/or military operations, through stabilisation efforts, and by building resilience at home and abroad. To bring this ambition to fruition, EU institutions have gradually expanded their ‘comprehensive approach to external conflict and crisis’ (CA) to become a full-fledged ‘integrated approach to conflict and crisis’ (IA).1 In their most basic form, CAs seek coordination and coherence in responding to external conflicts and crises by adopting a system-wide ‘whole-of-government approach’ (WGA). In their more elaborate form, IAs have incorpo- rated non-traditional security concepts, variously known as conflict transformation, (non-liberal) peacebuilding and human-security approaches. In their most expansive form, IAs may even be understood to apply to external action writ large