European Union
205 Articles

Building Civil Liberties Protections Into the EU’s Latest Border Discussions
European officials are renewing efforts to secure their borders in the wake of last November’s Paris attack. At the end of last month, EU Interior Ministers met to solidify cooperation…

Democracy in Peril in Poland
The collapse of communism in Central and Eastern Europe unleashed one of the most remarkable political transformations of modern times, paving the way for millions of Europeans…

An Update on European Measures Addressing Terrorism in the Aftermath of the French Attacks
In the aftermath of multiple terrorist atrocities in Paris on November 13, concerted legal and policy action is being taken both domestically and regionally. Coordinated regional…

The Queen’s Speech and the UK Government’s Legislative Agenda
The State Opening of Parliament took place in the UK yesterday. The focus of this event is the Queen’s Speech (full text here). This is important because it unveils the list…

The European Convention meets the Crisis in Ukraine
This post is part II of a series on the European Union and Council of Europe’s response to the Ukraine Crisis. In parallel to the muti-pronged EU action I discussed on Friday,…

European Legal (In)Action and the Ukraine Crisis
While political responses, dispersed with rhetoric flourishes, continue to be dispensed by European leaders reacting to the sustained crises that follow from Russian annexation…

A Roundup on European Union Responses to the Ukraine Crisis
The European Union (EU) has taken various kinds of action in response to the Ukraine crisis, mostly in the form of general support for the new Ukraine government and targeted…

The Political Support and Divisions Behind the European Parliament Resolution on Drones
By a large majority, the European Parliament yesterday passed a resolution condemning “the use of armed drones outside the international legal framework” and calling on the…

EU parliamentary committee’s preliminary report on NSA surveillance
A European Union parliamentary committee has published its preliminary conclusions as part of its inquiry into surveillance of EU citizens by the NSA as well as surveillance bodies…

Up to Date with the EU on Data Protection: Canvassing Implications for the US
The EU’s justice and rights commissioner, Viviane Reding has recently warned that the U.S. needs to adjust its surveillance programs or risk freezing its data sharing arrangements…

Privacy and Data Collection/Retention in the EU: Villalón Opinion
On Thursday of last week, Advocate General Cruz Villalón (see here for a description of the role of the Advocate General and the non-binding nature of their Opinions) delivered…

Spy v. Spy?: The coming push to create an EU spy agency to counteract the NSA
In an interview on Monday, a senior EU official, Commissioner of Justice Viviane Reding unveiled, in broad brushstrokes, a proposal to create a spy agency to counteract the NSA.…