Is there a way out of the Polish pickle? EPIN Commentary No. 31/22 January 2016

Poland is making headline news again. This time, however, not in a role of Central European Wunderkind surfing the economic crisis, but for reasons to be less proud of. Ever since the Prawo and Sprawiedliwość (PiS, a member of European Conservatives and Reformists group in the European Parliament) government took power after the elections in November, Poland has experienced political turmoil and is now facing accusations that the rule of law is in danger. This constitutes a major challenge for the European Union and for its other member states, which are looking for ways to deal with a recalcitrant state that makes a rapid U-turn on democratic fundamentals and takes any criticism hysterically. This is not the first time that the organisation has had to deal with such a case, yet solutions have not yet been found. Hungary is a case in point. And now Polish leaders too seem convinced about the virtues of the concept of illiberal democracy. Which prescription should the EU use to buck the trend and what are the potential side-effects

Is Turkey going to join the EU in the next decade? Not likely, Mr Gove

Michael Gove and other Vote Leave campaigners have warned that Turkey, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Albania are likely to join the EU in the near future, which would lead to an influx of migrants looking for jobs in Britain. On the contrary, says Adam Lazowski: the EU will probably not expand at all in the next decade. If and when it does, transitional arrangements mean the UK labour market would remain closed to new EU citizens for a long time to come

The end of chocolate box-style integration? EU-Swiss relations after the referendum. CEPS Commentaries, 28 February 2014

Surveying the landscape following the Swiss referendum on February 9th, Adam Łazowski observes that once Swiss voters are deprived of the benefits of the EU internal market, they may come to appreciate that their days of cherry-picking from among EU policies are over. This might present the EU with a golden opportunity to press for a comprehensive framework agreement with Switzerland that would simplify the existing regime and provide for a uniform institutional set-up. He concludes, however, that what both sides cannot avoid is a frank discussion about free movement of persons, noting that that dossier will be crucial for any future steps that will be taken by the EU and the Swiss authorities

One against 27: the pitfalls of Brexit negotiations with the EU

If Britain votes to Leave, how will the exit negotiations be conducted? Adam Lazowski warns that Donald Tusk’s preferred option of a two-stage negotiation – withdrawal, then an agreement on future relations – would be the worst possible scenario for the UK, because we would be negotiating the latter from outside the EU. Nonetheless, the other two negotiating options have their own risks. Both sides have much to lose, he argues, but the UK will be one state against 27

The Brexiteers’ exit plan: legally dubious, unfeasible and likely to antagonise our neighbours

Last week Vote Leave laid out its plans for a divorce and a future relationship with the EU. It argued that if voters decided to end UK’s membership of the EU, the UK would negotiate a “friendly deal” with European partners by the next general election in 2020. But this post-referendum roadmap does not hold water, argue Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska and Adam Lazowski. It would, at best, further antagonise the European partners and, at worst, create economic and legal chaos. Here are four reasons why

EUROPEAN UNION DO NOT WORRY, CROATIA IS BEHIND YOU: A COMMENTARY ON THE SEVENTH ACCESSION TREATY

With the signature of the Accession Treaty, Croatia has entered the final stage of rapprochement. If everything goes according to plan, on 1 July 2013 Croatia will become the twenty-eighth Member State of the European Union. This article provides an analysis of the terms and conditions of membership. It looks at the institutional framework for accession as well as substantive rules, including transitional periods. It also takes on board a monitoring mechanism established to facilitate verifi cation of Croatia’s compliance with commitments undertaken during the accession negotiations and a set of safeguard clauses

Switching Gear: Law Approximation in Ukraine After the Application for EU Membership

In the wake of a full-scale Russian invasion, Ukraine applied for EU membership on 28 February 2022. In a matter of months, it was formally confirmed by the European Council as a candidate country. This has had a plethora of consequences; one of them is the obligation to approximate its national law with the EU acquis in its entirety. Unless there is a change of paradigm in EU pre-accession policy, transitional arrangements are strictly the exception to the rule, and therefore the law approximation effort has to go way beyond existing commitments under the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, the Energy Community Treaty, and the Civil Aviation Agreement. Such switching of gear in the law approximation process comes with additional layers of complexity. For instance, compliance with the horizontal provisions of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union governing freedoms of the internal market requires comprehensive screening of national law before any legislative changes are made. Furthermore, law approximation with EU legal acts which can only apply when a country becomes a Member State must be carefully planned and timed. The legal system must be ready to accommodate EU law, with all the principles governing enforcement, including the direct application of EU regulations. While this is all doable, it must be handled with care, especially in a country whose economy and society at large have been shattered by war

The Importance of Being Earnest: Spelling of Names, EU Citizenship and Fundamental Rights

Names are central elements of people’s identities: they distinguish them from other individuals and play an important role in human self-determination. Names and their spelling reach, from time to time, national and European courtrooms. The European Union is no exception in this respect, as the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice proves. Unlike the European Court of Human Rights, the Luxembourg court avoids looking at the right to one’s name through the prism of fundamental rights but opts for internal market and EU citizenship reasoning. This article puts into context one of the latest EU citizenship cases on the right to one’s name, originating from the (lack of) ethnic minority rights protection in Lithuania. The Runevič-Vardyn case, in which the Court of Justice was called to balance EU citizens' fundamental rights against national constitutional traditions to protect state language, also highlights the political and diplomatic tensions between Poland and Lithuania – two ‘young’ Member States with their unique post-Soviet history. This is only one of the many examples illustrating the intricate ethnic minority rights issues in many EU bordering Member States, which raises wider questions about the future of European integration. Given the current national reform on the spelling of names in identity documents in Lithuania, it may well be that the change to improve the protection to one’s right to identity can come from within. The authors, however, propose that the Court takes a more coherent fundamental rights and proportionality approach on this matter. Hence, as a way out, they put forward a proposal for inclusive residence-based EU citizenship that is underpinned by the substantive equality of all EU citizens, no matter what their ethnic origin or mother tongue

Brexit: views from around Europe on future relationship between UK and EU

First paragraph: Attention in European capitals has now turned to the detail of the future relationship between the EU and UK after Brexit. On November 22, the draft text of the Political Declaration on that future relationship was published by the EU. It must now be signed off by EU leaders. Here, academic experts from around the EU explain the priorities in member states for the next steps of the future EU-UK relationship. Read the view from Germany, Ireland, Spain, France, Italy and Poland.https://theconversation.com/brexit-views-from-around-europe-on-future-relationship-between-uk-and-eu-10740