Where in the world are we today? And tomorrow?
In 2018, the EU, together with its Member States, was the third-largest development assistance donors for Vietnam, with a total amount of €425 million (18.1% of all ODA disbursements). Among many things, the EU budget has particularly been instrumental in: installing/upgrading 395 health centres,immunising at least 97% of children under 1 year of age,expanding health... Continue Reading →
The Netherlands is the most competitive country in Europe, according to the Global Competitiveness Report 2019. The country shows consistently high levels of performance in macroeconomic stability, health and infrastructure quality. The Dutch people benefit from a highly developed innovation ecosystem, supported by a highly skilled workforce, vibrant business dynamism and advanced innovation capability. The... Continue Reading →
Thanks to the EU-Korea FTA, the EU is now Korea’s third-largest trade partner and its third-largest export market (after China and the US); the EU is Korea’s second-largest import market (after China). As for FDI, the EU is the largest investor in Korea, with over 7.1 billion USD in 2019. As of 2019, EU companies... Continue Reading →
IntroductionMultilateralism refers to a form of international cooperation that involves coordinating national policies in groups of three or more states, based on specific rules and recognised principles (Keohane 1990 and Reggie 1993, as cited in Philipps & Braun 2020). Multilateral cooperation commonly seeks to achieve a particular goal or a set of multiple goals, ranging... Continue Reading →
IntroductionWith COVID-19, the year 2020 is inherently different from any other year this generation has seen. The pandemic’s impacts are so severe that many say the challenge is comparable to that of the Second World War. In this unprecedented trial, how will the European Union emerge? This essay argues that Europe has a chance with... Continue Reading →
EU fundamental rights bind EU institutions (in all their acts) and Member States (while implementing EU law). Now, the problem with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is that (1) the ECHR and the EU are two separate entities; (2) the EU is yet to accede to the ECHR (despite the EU’s good intentions);... Continue Reading →
The Member States are bound by EU fundamental rights when they are implementing EU law. The contention, however, has been regarding what constitutes the ‘implementation of EU law’. What follows is my digest of the list of cases from the CJEU’s Fact Sheet on Field of Application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the... Continue Reading →
Discussion on the fundamental political status of Union citizenship demands a careful examination in two dimensions. The first dimension is the role of EU citizenship as a legal status, particularly within the framework of the intergovernmental agreement reached by the Member States but endowed with supranational institutions—including the ECJ—which operate autonomously. This dimension has a... Continue Reading →
Hoffmeister (2007) categorises 27 EU MS into five theoretical models in regards to their procedures of ratifying EU treaties. The first group of countries apply their constitutional provisions as regards the ratification of international treaties irrespective of the unique nature of the European Union. The second group of countries (limitation of sovereignty) recognise that sovereignty... Continue Reading →
The right to asylum is explicitly stated in the EU Treaties. Article 18 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union states, “the right to asylum shall be guaranteed”. This ethos is repeated in Articles 67(2) and 78 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). It is against EU... Continue Reading →
