On 6 October 2026, the European Commission published its Communication ‘Preparing for a wider Union’, presenting its recommendations to facilitate the EU’s enlargement. Post-accession, the Commission Communication foresees several safeguard clauses, allowing the Union to address any forms of backsliding…
European Law Blog
The European Law Blog is a platform that publishes articles and commentary related to European law. It serves as a resource for legal professionals, academics, and students interested in developments within European Union law and related legal fields. The blog covers a range of topics including regulatory issues, case law analysis, policy developments, and legal theory relevant to Europe. It often features contributions from experts in the field, providing insights into the practical and theoretical aspects of European law. The content is aimed at fostering understanding and discussion of legal matters affecting the European legal landscape.
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The Pool and the Pressure: Article 60(3) and the EU Migration Pact’s October Test
In May 2024, the European Union adopted the Pact on Migration and Asylum, a package of ten legislative acts reorganising arrivals, asylum applications, returns and the distribution of responsibility among Member States. Most began to apply on 12 June 2026. One…
Collective compliance at the expense of competitive uncertainty?
Recent EU digital and information law initiatives greatly rely on industry participation and knowledge to translate legal obligations into an actionable and acceptable compliance framework. The distinctive Article 101 TFEU concern raised by examples of the GDPR, but even more…
Overlapping GDPR and DMA Competences to Assess Anonymisation: Sincere Cooperation in the Commission’s Google Search Specification Decision
On 16 July 2026, the Commission adopted a decision specifying Alphabet’s obligations to share Google Search data under Article 6(11) of the Digital Markets Act (DMA). In specifying those obligations under Article 8(2) DMA, the Commission prescribes safeguards and then relies on them to…
Who Bears the Costs of Systemic Rule of Law Breaches? The General Court’s Judgments on EU Value Conditionality
Since 2021, the EU has increasingly relied on its budgetary powers to defend its values under Article 2 TEU; through three value conditionality instruments. In response to value breaches in Hungary, these instruments have been used freeze over €30 billion…
A Tempting Shortcut: How the Digital Omnibus Would Re-engineer the Legitimate Interest Test for AI
To be lawful, processing of personal data must rest on one of the six grounds in Article 6 of the General Data Protection Regulation(GDPR). Among them, Article 6(1)(f), legitimate interest (LI), requires a controller, case by case, to show that it…
Saving the EU-ESO: Enhanced Cooperation as EU Inc.’s Way Out?
The EU Inc. proposal of 18 March 2026 (COM(2026) 321 final) promised founders a single, harmonised corporate form covering aspects of corporate, insolvency, labour and tax law. Its most relevant feature for start-ups is the EU Employee Stock Option scheme (EU-ESO). Stock…
Carbon Certificates under a European Legal Framework: Ready for Lift-off?
Regulation 2024/3012 establishing a Union certification framework for permanent carbon removals, carbon farming and carbon storage in products (hereafter: CRCF Regulation or Regulation) creates a European quality framework for carbon certificates. In this blog post I argue that the CRCF Regulation can…
The Child Is Not the Marriage: A.A. v. the Netherlands and Individual Assessment in the Application of Article 4(4) of Directive 2003/86
A.A. v. the Netherlands sits at an unusual intersection of Strasbourg family-life doctrine and EU family-reunification law. The European Court of Human Rights unanimously found no violation of Article 8 after the Netherlands refused a Yemeni refugee’s request to bring five…
Sanctions, Lawyers, and the Limits of Article 47 CFREU: The Grounds of Appeal in Case C-865/24 P Ordre néerlandais des avocats du barreau de Bruxelles and Others v Council
Since October 2022, EU-based lawyers have been prohibited from providing certain legal advice to the Russian government and to companies established in Russia. This sounds, at first glance, like a narrow and technical restriction buried deep within the EU’s sanctions…