13 December 2021
Not Above the Law
In the joined cases EMA and ELA on the determination of EU agencies’ seats, a decision of the EU-Court is pending very soon. According to AG Bobek’s opinion, delivered on 6 October 2021, intergovernmental decisions the seats of the European agencies fall outside the EU Court’s judicial review. Ezio Perillo, former Judge at the General Court, does not agree with this solution. For him court has the duty to assure the effective judicial protection of intergovernmental decisions when they do not respect the institutional balance as in the EMA and ELA cases. Continue reading >>
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24 June 2021
Unpersuasive but Wise
On 16 June, by two parallel orders, the EU Court of Justice said the last word on the legality of advocate general Sharpston’s divestment. In the end, the Court did little more than reiterate the press statement it made in response to the member states’ declaration on the subject. The member states made a legitimate decision based on an old custom, and the Court could do nothing but oblige. Continue reading >>20 June 2021
Predictable and Unsatisfying
Most EU lawyers have already seen it looming on the horizon: On 16 June 2021, former Advocate General Eleanor Sharpston lost the legal dispute against her former employer, the European Court of Justice. Although the outcome in this regard was predictable, the decision is overall somewhat unsatisfying. The CJEU seems to be of that opinion in finding that Sharpston’s mandate ended automatically with the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU. The Court does so without revealing its legal considerations and interpretation of EU primary law in its reasoning. Continue reading >>
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15 September 2020
That Depends
The controversial debate about Eleanor Sharpston’s position as Advocate General has raised a lot of questions: political as well as legal. Many of the legal questions have not been decided by the Courts, the law is ambiguous, and the circumstances with one Member leaving the European Union are unprecedented. And yet, the Court of Justice treated those questions as if the answers were straightforward and clear-cut. In doing so, the Court seems to have ignored the complexity of the legal questions and thereby undercut the effectiveness of the proceedings for interim measures. Continue reading >>11 September 2020