The European Union (EU) faces a pressing, multi-level energy crisis propelled by the perfect storm of Russia’s war in Ukraine and rapidly progressing climate change. As a result, the EU is... Show moreThe European Union (EU) faces a pressing, multi-level energy crisis propelled by the perfect storm of Russia’s war in Ukraine and rapidly progressing climate change. As a result, the EU is scrambling to ensure it has sufficient energy supplies for the foreseeable future while reinventing its energy strategy in the long term. Since the EU is at a critical juncture for squaring EU energy security with European and international legal commitments, this article surveys this radical shift and its consequences. It analyses new EU-wide crisis-response tools and ad hoc bilateral arrangements with third countries against existing legal commitments. Recent developments are only the beginning of a much larger re-evaluation of core notions of the ‘trade-energy security’ nexus. To decarbonize, the EU must move towards a ‘security-centred’ energy transition, premised on ‘security first, compliance second’. This requires reassessing the notion of ‘protectionism’ in geopolitically sensitive areas and the current division of energy competences between the EU and its Member States. Show less
The article outlines a brief constitutional-institutional scenario of the Netherlands as background to analyze two paradigmatic cases, the Urgenda case and the childcare allowance scandal. These... Show moreThe article outlines a brief constitutional-institutional scenario of the Netherlands as background to analyze two paradigmatic cases, the Urgenda case and the childcare allowance scandal. These two cases bring to light different behaviours of the judge in offering legal protection to fundamental rights. The analysis of these cases in the Dutch model, in which there is no judicial constitutional review, is enlightening about the new challenges faced by the State -climate change and the advent of the digital era- and the need to rethink the theory of separation of powers aiming to offering effective legal protection to fundamental rights. Show less
This article analyses the United Kingdom’s (UK) ‘trade continuity programme’. The promise that, once outside the European Union (EU), the UK would strike new, lucrative trade deals continues to be... Show moreThis article analyses the United Kingdom’s (UK) ‘trade continuity programme’. The promise that, once outside the European Union (EU), the UK would strike new, lucrative trade deals continues to be an important part of the Brexiteers’ narrative. What the UK was compelled to do first, however, was to conclude ‘roll-over’ agreements to replace the trade agreements already made by the EU. This article posits that, contrary to expectations, the UK’s continuity programme should be regarded as a success – for both the UK and the EU. In most cases, the UK managed to replicate to a very large extent the terms originally granted to the EU, despite being a smaller market and despite challenging circumstances. From the EU’s perspective, the UK’s continuity programme can be regarded as a case of successful norm internalization and export. This first chapter of post-Brexit UK trade policy shows that even a country that has left the EU still legally commits itself and its partners to the EU’s norms and values. Hence, the EU should welcome the UK’s imitation as a shared normative basis to expand cooperation with its former member state in a challenging geopolitical environment. Show less
The contribution looks at procedures before the Court of Justice of the European Union dealing with legal questions relating to the EU-Swiss sectoral agreements, i.e. cases that have occurred in... Show moreThe contribution looks at procedures before the Court of Justice of the European Union dealing with legal questions relating to the EU-Swiss sectoral agreements, i.e. cases that have occurred in this context. Particular emphasis is put on the annulment procedure (Art. 263 TFEU). Show less
This article addresses the question of how the EU’s legal constraints can be overcome in the governance of Global Spaces. It shows, first, that EU law is part of a trend of including language... Show moreThis article addresses the question of how the EU’s legal constraints can be overcome in the governance of Global Spaces. It shows, first, that EU law is part of a trend of including language relating to Global Spaces in constitutional documents. The article subsequently highlights a tension specific to the EU as a non-state entity. While the EU Treaties enshrine grand foreign policy ambitions, which are impossible to achieve without a proactive role across the Global Spaces, EU law imposes several obstacles that complicate the pursuit of these ambitions. These concern particularly the need to base EU actions on powers conferred by the member states, the parallel international presence of the Union and the member states, and difficulties for the EU to join relevant international agreements and institutions. The article argues that through legal creativity, these constraints can be largely overcome, enabling the EU to pursue its ambitions nonetheless. Show less
The question of human rights and energy has been traditionally framed as an analysis of limitations on energy transactions arising from substantive and procedural human rights. Whereas the negative... Show moreThe question of human rights and energy has been traditionally framed as an analysis of limitations on energy transactions arising from substantive and procedural human rights. Whereas the negative externality framing of human rights sets safeguards against the adverse effects of energy transactions and thereby restrains how such transactions are conducted, it overlooks a more fundamental dimension, the conferral of entitlements. Indeed, human rights define entitlements over energy resources, setting competing claims that limit not only how energy transactions are conducted but also the very power to conduct them in the first place. The entitlement dimension of human rights also unveils a wider question, namely the competing claims of a variety of collective subjects against the entitlement of the territorial or coastal States. In other words, such reframing opposes two logics of international law, each based on a different conception of the source from which entitlements flow. This article investigates the externality-avoidance and entitlement function of human rights in the context of international energy transactions. It reviews the most relevant judicial and quasi-judicial practice at the international level to illustrate the implications of framing the function of human rights from one or the other perspective. Show less
