30 June 2021
Neglected Actors at the Conference on the Future of Europe
Judges are prominent actors with a significant impact on European integration. Yet, no references to them appear in the Joint Declaration on the Conference on the Future of Europe. This corresponds to a view, unsustainable in the age of extensive access to information, that judges sit in ivory towers and speak exclusively through their decisions that other actors then explain to the broader public. Continue reading >>
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15 October 2020
Justice and Independence, an Actual Problem in Spain
On October 13, the Spanish Government presented a bill to Parliament with one main objective: to reduce the parliamentary majorities to appoint the members of the General Council of the Judiciary. Its purpose is to overcome a political blockage in the renewal of its members, which has already lasted two years. But the government's attempt, somehow awkward, has been quickly compared to maneuvers to control the judiciary in Poland and Hungary. However, this bill and those exaggerated criticisms conceal a much more relevant and, above all, sadder reality. Continue reading >>28 September 2020
Continuing Violation
Since the failed coup attempt in 2016, lawyers, judges and prosecutors have persistently been subject to illegal surveillance and mass arrests. The latest such arrest of 50 lawyers took place on September 11th, 2020, during police raids in Ankara in the dawn. Arrests of lawyers have become the new normal although legal professionals should enjoy strong protections by law. Turkey’s Court of Cassation, however, has deprived these guarantees of any practical effectiveness by unlawfully expanding the meaning of in flagrante delicto. Continue reading >>
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09 May 2020
Ecuador – Constitutionalism and Covid-19
When referring to the rule of law and constitutionalism we must be extremely cautious: Ecuador was founded in 1830 after the dissolution of Great Colombia, and in just 190 years has adopted 20 constitutions. The current Ecuadorian Constitution dates from 2008. This means that the nation does not possess a strong constitutional tradition nor a culture of promotion of the rule of law. On the contrary, Ecuador has a long history of institutional breakdowns and coup d'états which were caused by political and economic crisis. However, these were nothing compared with the situation all Ecuadorians are currently facing. Continue reading >>28 April 2020
Cracks in India’s Constitutional Framework
India's constitutional system was conceptualized to share power (although not equally) between the Union and the 29 states alongside an institutionally grounded system of checks and balances between the parliament, the executive and the judiciary. As the world’s largest democracy proceeds into the sixth week of the nation-wide lockdown to address the outbreak of Covid-19, certain cracks in its constitutional framework have been exacerbated that have the potential to structurally alter the constitutional framework of checks and balances in the aftermath of the pandemic. Continue reading >>
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10 March 2020
A March in the Night
The annual Feminist Night March in Istanbul has been the most cheerful, vivid and peaceful demonstration of Turkey’s civil society since 2003 – dspite the venue restrictions imposed by the government and the use of tear gas during the marches of 2019. Complementing the discussions on the endurance and containment of civic activism, the recent Gezi Park and Kavala cases are conducive for understanding the relationship between human rights defenders and autocratic legalism. Continue reading >>
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03 March 2020
Thailand’s Obsession with Clean Politics Dismantles its Democracy
On 21 February, the already fragile Thai democracy became even more vulnerable as the Constitutional Court dissolved the Future Forward Party, the third largest party and the most active opposition against the government of Prayuth Chan-ocha. This case is the latest in the series of judicial overreach in Thailand. The phenomenon is being fueled by the unhealthy obsession of building clean politics which yields an opposite result. Continue reading >>29 February 2020
Context Matters
On February 9th, the Armenian parliament authorized a referendum that would allow the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, to remove seven of the current nine justices from the Constitutional Court. Pashinyan has called the decisions of the Court a “threat to democracy”. On its face, this seems like yet another example of a populist leader trying to use a referendum to increase his power. Examining the context of the situation in Armenia, however, paints a different picture. Continue reading >>09 January 2020
The Turkish Judiciary’s Violations of Human Rights Guarantees
On 3 December 2019, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled in the case of Parmak & Bakir v Turkey that the Turkish judiciary’s interpretation of the offence of membership of an armed terrorist organization violated Article 7 of the European Convention on Human Rights, being the absolute right to no punishment without law. Although the case deals with incidents from 2002, it shows how Turkey’s post-coup terrorism trials violate Turkey’s obligations under the ECHR. Continue reading >>10 July 2019
Judges Depending on Judges
Since the beginning of 2018 the CJEU has finally been putting flesh on the bones of the EU principle of judicial independence. Most recently, the Court has been widely praised for its ruling against the Polish attempt of removing the, presumably, disloyal judges by a general measure of lowering their retirement age from 70 to 65. While the decision is indeed praiseworthy, it is nevertheless necessary to emphasize its notable doctrinal lacuna with potential negative practical implications – particularly in those EU member states with a weak democratic and rule of law tradition, a low degree of legal and political culture as well as with a small and tightly-knit legal elite. Continue reading >>
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