The Swedish supreme courts as part of the public administration, rather than as independent actors – Political, legal, and administrative reasons behind this positioning – A recent trend shifts the position of the supreme courts – Endogenous forces (e.g. a more ‘conflictual’ political climate) and exogenous reasons (e.g. the increasing importance of the judicial-made EU law) – Swedish supreme courts nearer to being a body with the primary duty of safeguarding the law against the executive and legislative powers – ‘Full’ positioning of supreme courts within the judicial core not an essential institutional requirement for a democracy – Important role of the public administration’s degree of dependence on the legislative power

The difference

On 13 December 2007, after a remarkable acceleration of the process under the German and Portuguese presidencies, representatives of the member states put pen to paper and signed the Treaty of Lisbon. Much of the ensuing debate, both in legal circles and among the general public, has centred on its abandonment of the ‘constitutional concept’.

Limits to member states' discretion in European Union enlargement negotiations – Changing the fundamentals of the EU constitutional order through the conclusion of accession treaties – The case of Turkey – Caveats, precautions and fallback strategies in the ‘Negotiating Framework for Turkey’ – Enforcing the limits to member states' discretion in European Union enlargement negotiations – The jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice before ratification and after entry into force.

European Ombudsman – Free access to information in the EU – Regulation No 1049/2001– Standard of assessment used by European Ombudsman – Legal norms versus norms of good administration and whether good administration can be understood outside legality – European Code of Good Administrative Behaviour and the rather ambiguous concept of maladministration – European Ombudsman as developer of norms of good administration in the area of free access to information – A rather limited role as developer of norms of good administration for the European Ombudsman in individual decisions – Role in ‘translating’ the case law into somewhat more accessible jargon and explaining how existing principles and norms of good governance apply to the circumstances of a specific case – Own inquiries as a policy instrument for advising EU institutions and agencies on how to deal with certain aspects pertaining to access to documents and transparency – Interesting interplay between European Ombudsman and the courts

Data retention saga – Interpretative strategy of the Court of Justice – Expansive potential of the principles set by the Court of Justice – ‘Reverse’ effet utile and conflict of competence – EU acts under threat – Domino effect on national security measures – Future scenarios – Twilight of the model of bulk data retention – Modulation of the ban on bulk data retention according to the vulnerability of data processing or depending on the prior unknowability of the threats – Divergence from the European Court of Human Rights – Legitimisation of bulk data retention

‘Equo ne credite, Teucri!

Quidquid id est, timeo Danaos et dona ferentes’

— Virgil, Aeneid, II, 48-49

Founding principles and rights in new Statuti (fundamental regional charters) – Expression of sub – national constitutionalism? – Constitutional court: Statuti not regional constitutions – Provisions on founding principles and rights ‘cultural statements’ lacking any legal effect – Tertium Genus in addition to ‘prescriptive’ and ‘programmatic’ norms? – Various scenarios for potential legal conflicts between the national Constitution and the ‘cultural statements’

Eurozone sovereign debt crisis – Europe's ‘Alexander Hamilton Moment’ – American sovereign debt crisis of 1780s – Articles of Confederation – U.S. Constitution – Assumption of states' debt – Constitutional transformation key factor in enabling Alexander Hamilton's debt restructuring

Constitutional referendum – Popular sovereignty – Constituent power – Democratic legitimacy – Participation in referendum as exercise of constituent power – The legal status conception of the constitution – The legal functions conception of the constitution – Open question whether every provision in codified constitutions is essential to constituent power – Therefore, constitutional referendum not always mandated by democratic legitimacy

Rule of law and the legality principle – Legality principle in the Italian legal system – ‘Prescribed by law’ – Legality in supranational dimension – ‘Democratic disconnect’ – Margin of appreciation – Concepts of ‘law’ and ‘legislation’ – Democracy-based legislation – Quality of legislation – ‘Political constitutionalism’ versus ‘legal constitutionalism’

1. PETER NORMAN, The Accidental Constitution, the story of the European Convention. Brussels: EuroComment, 2003, 406 p. ISBN 9077110054

2. KLEMENS H. FISCHER, Konvent zur Zukunft Europas. Texte und Kommentar. Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 2003, 542 p. ISBN 383290171X

3. ETIENNE DE PONCINS, Vers une Constitution européenne. Texte commenté du projet de traité constitutionnel établi par la Convention européenne. Paris: Editions 10/18, 2003, 528 p. ISBN 2264038179

4. VALÉRY GISCARD D'ESTAING, La Constitution pour l'Europe. Paris: Editions Albin Michel, 2003, 396 p. ISBN 2226142010

5. JEAN-LUC DEHAENE, De Europese uitdaging. Van uitbreiding tot integratie. Leuven: Van Halewyck, 2004, 237 p. ISBN 9056175645

Proposal to grant Spanish nationality to Sephardic Jews – History of Sephardic Jews in Iberia – Sephardim and the Portuguese nationality code – The EU and the nationality laws of the member states – Impact of Union law on the acquisition of Iberian nationalities by Sephardic Jews – European Convention on Nationality – Sephardim from third countries – Micheletti – Nottebohm

Introduction

Each time users connect to the internet or make a phone call, they leave ‘digital fingerprints’ which may turn out to be useful for identifying people involved in a crime or an act of terrorism. This is why there is great interest by law enforcement authorities in gaining access to traffic and location data, relying on the forced co-operation of telecommunication and internet providers. However, the effectiveness of compelling these service providers to retain such data for the purpose of fighting crime has been questioned. Moreover, data retention obligations interfere with the right to privacy of individuals, as protected by Article 8 European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR); therefore, they may be imposed only for a legitimate objective, i.e. to protect citizens' safety, and in full respect of the principle of proportionality.

In the case of Leyla Sahin v. Turkey of 29 June 2004, the European Court of Human Rights decided in favour of Turkey. The banning of headscarves at the University of Istanbul did not violate Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Some years before the European Court already declared inadmissible a complaint by a Swiss teacher of younger children who was fired because she was not willing to leave off her headscarf while teaching. The complaint was manifestly ill founded. In other European countries the wearing of headscarves by teachers and pupils has lead to political and legal discussions and actions as well. In France, new legislation based on the so-called Stasi-report forbids pupils in primary and secondary state schools to wear clearly visible religious symbols. The reasons behind this act of parliament were problems allegedly caused by the wearing of headscarves. In Germany, the Federal Constitutional Court decided that a ban on headscarves for teachers needs a basis in an act of parliament of the German states. It is up to the legislatures of the Länder to decide if such a ban should be issued. In the Netherlands, existing equal treatment law has been interpreted in such a way that teachers and pupils in state schools are allowed to wear headscarves.

On 15 January 2014, the Court of Justice (hereafter ‘the Court’) delivered its judgment in Association de Médiation Sociale (hereafter ‘AMS’). AMS brought for the first time before the Court the issue of horizontal applicability in relation to a provision of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (hereafter ‘Charter’), namely Article 27 thereof, which enshrines the right of workers to information and consultation within the undertaking. The case therefore raised questions of ‘undeniable constitutional significance’, as Advocate-General Cruz Villalón had put it in his Opinion, regarding the post-Lisbon enforcement and interpretation of the Charter and, in particular, its application to disputes between private parties.