Why Britain should allow the UK and EU Parliaments to talk after Brexit

Contrary to the aims of the Political Declaration, the UK government has refused to agree to co-operation between the UK and EU Parliaments. Davor Jancic (Queen Mary University of London) says this is not just misguided and antagonistic, but breaks with a tradition of inter-parliamentary co-operation that long predates the EU

Countering the debt crisis: national parliaments and EU economic governance

While the sovereign debt crisis was ravaging the Eurozone and while the European Council was dominating the decision-making scene, even the most informed onlookers harboured little expectation that this would have a positive impact on the democratisation of the European Union

Globalizing Representative Democracy: The Emergence of Multilayered International Parliamentalism

As globalization penetrates the realm of democracy, the internationalization of the institution of parliament, as the epitome of popular representation in liberal democracies - continues to be largely ignored by key studies in international law, constitutional law and global governance. This article seeks to place international parliamentarism on the radar of legal scholarship, reassess the value that representative democracy has in the globalized world, and demonstrate that understanding parliaments as purely domestic institutions immune from international integrative forces is no longer tenable. This article argues that international interparliamentary relations do not occur merely within isolated forums but can and do de facto evolve in layers of overlapping forums whenever circumstances allow it. To capture this phenomenon, the article conceptualizes multilayered international parliamentarism as developing in webs of linkages between the same parliamentary institutions in various bilateral and multilateral frameworks regarding the same region. This represents the most complex form of parliamentarism in contemporary global affairs. To demonstrate this, the article conducts an in-depth case study of relations between the parliaments of the EU and Brazil and examines the reaction of the Brazilian and supranational regional Latin American parliaments to the EU Returns Directive. The analysis shows that the traditional, inwardlooking role of parliaments is gradually changing under the pressure of transnational policy challenges. Increased international contacts among parliaments accentuate their deliberative functions and create new avenues for parliamentary input in international affairs. This kind of interaction fosters the diplomatic actorship of parliaments in foreign affairs in a concerted attempt to counterbalance intergovernmental and transgovernmental ways of doing politics and making law

Why the European Court of Justice isn’t going away

One of the most contentious issues in Britain’s exit from the EU is the role of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) during and after Brexit. This is because Brexit is ultimately a question of sovereign authority. Who decides the rules of the game when things go awry: a UK judge, or their EU counterpart? Davor Jancic examines the ECJ’s impact on British sovereignty by reflecting on the contents and implementation of withdrawal

Multilayered international parliamentarism: the case of EU-Brazil relations

Challenging the predominant scholarly focus on international parliamentary institutions as the sole and sufficient object of inquiry into the global role of parliaments, this article argues that international interparliamentary relations do not occur merely within isolated forums, but may and do de facto evolve in layers of overlapping forums whenever circumstances allow it. This article conceptualises multilayered international parliamentarism as developing in webs of formal and informal linkages between the same parliamentary institutions in a variety of bilateral and multilateral frameworks regarding the same region. To this end, I conduct an in-depth case study of bilateral and multilateral relations between the parliaments of the EU and Brazil through the lens of institutional arrangements as well as by examining the reaction of the Brazilian and certain other Latin American parliaments to the EU’s Returns Directive. The analysis shows that intensified international contacts among parliamentarians accentuate the deliberative function of parliaments and foster their ‘diplomatic’ actorship in foreign affairs in a concerted attempt to counterbalance globalisation-propelled ‘negotiated democracy’ nurtured by intergovernmental and transgovernmental ways of doing politics and making law

Multi-level governance approach in the EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region (EUSAIR): the analysis of the contribution of national stakeholders

The purpose of the thesis is to find out the contribution of national stakeholders in the decision-making process of the EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region (EUSAIR). Alongside other macro-regional strategies, EUSAIR is the recent strategy of the European Union which is characterized by multi-level governance, considering that the decision-making process involves different stakeholders from different level and sector. The literature argues that the supranational institutions are taking a central part in the decision-making of EUSAIR, due to funding resources, however, the literature also confirms that the role of the national stakeholders is considered influential as well. Even though the macro-regional cooperation is characterized by multi-level governance, which is involving different level actors in the process, the thesis debates that the national stakeholders are taking the essential part in the decision-making of EUSAIR through bargaining among national governments and further including more stakeholders from the NGOs and local society into taking an active role in the EUSAIR decision-making.O objetivo da dissertação é descobrir a contribuição das atores nacionais no processo de tomada de decisão da Estratégia da UE para a Região Adriática e Jônica (EUSAIR). Juntamente com outras estratégias macrorregionais, a EUSAIR é a estratégia recente da União Europeia, caracterizada pela governança em vários níveis, considerando que o processo de tomada de decisão envolve diferentes partes interessadas de diferentes níveis e setores. A literatura argumenta que as instituições supranacionais estão tendo um papel central na tomada de decisão da EUSAIR, devido ao financiamento de recursos, no entanto, a literatura também confirma que o papel das atores nacionais também é considerado influente. Embora a cooperação macrorregional seja caracterizada por governança multinível, que envolve diferentes atores de nível no processo, a dissertação debate que as atores nacionais estão assumindo o papel essencial na tomada de decisões da EUSAIR por meio de negociações entre governos nacionais e incluindo ainda mais atores das ONGs e da sociedade local na participação ativa no processo de tomada de decisão da EUSAIR

Compressed nested certificates provide more efficient PKI

Certificate verification in PKI is a complex and time consuming process. In the classical PKI methodology, in order to obtain a public key and to accept a certificate as valid, a verifier needs to extract a certificate path from the PKI and to verify the certificates on this path recursively. Levi proposed a nested certificate model vvith the aim to simplify and speed up certificate verification. Such a nested certificate-based PKI significantly improves certificate verification, but it also requires a large increase in the number of issued certificates, which makes this model impractical for real life deployment. In order to solve this drawback of nested PKI, while retaining its speed in certificate verification, we propose in this paper the innovative concept of a compressed nested certificate, which is a significantly modified version of the nested certificate model. Compressed nested certificate PKI deploys compressed nested certificates which speed up and simplify certificate verification while keeping certificate load to a minimum, thus providing implementers the option of integrating it into the existing PKI model or building it separately as an independent model.<br /

The Adjudication and Enforcement of Rights After Brexit

This report records the inaugural meeting and roundtable of the Brexit and Rights Engagement Network (BREN) on Tuesday 3rd July 2018 at Edinburgh Law School. Attendees at the roundtable included network members, fellow academics, representatives of the Scottish Parliament, the Scottish Government, the Scottish Human Rights Commission, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the legal professions, and NGOs. Two years after the EU Referendum and only a few days after the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (the 2018 Act) receiving Royal Assent, the Brexit and Rights Engagement Network met for the first time. The purpose of the roundtable was to ignite debate amongst legal scholars and policy makers, and others working in a rights environment relating to interpretation, adjudication and enforcement of rights in the lead up to, and following “Brexit Day,” (March 29, 2019). This report is split into two sections, Part A will consider the adjudication of EU rights, but also their enforcement under the 2018 Act and the Withdrawal Agreement, whilst ‘options for the future’ will be broached in Part B