European Parliament Resolution Research Articles

Constitutionalisation of the Right to Abortion

Enshrining the right to abortion in the constitution represented an ideal in many states that faced this issue or restrictions that led to the loss of human life. The phenomenon gained momentum in the European space after the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in the Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health (Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization, 2022). I mentioned the decision, by which the Court annulled the right to abortion, offering the possibility to waive this right to the national authorities. The rise of extremist religious groups in the European space made the right to abortion a controversial subject, which is why the phenomenon was left to the discretion of the national state from a decision-making perspective. However, in the EU, the European Parliament alerted in time the threats posed to the rights to abortion requesting that this right be introduced in the EU Convention of Rights (European Parliament Resolution, 2022; European Parliament Resolution, 2024). Rounding off the decision to implement the right to abortion in the constitution generated at the national level a real debate for and against, which in the European space ended with some changes such as states that have adopted this right: France (French legislative proposal no. 293, 2023), Belgium (Parl. doc. 55 2832/001 (2021-2022), Norway, and Sweden (Press release Department of Justice, 2023). Against this reaction, legal experts questioned the necessity, adequacy and added value of the constitutionalisation (Dobner M. Loughlin, 2010) of a right to abortion in European-national contexts.

VLIK from Madrid to Vienna: the Search for a New Political Direction in the Liberation of Lithuania

The Supreme Committee for the Liberation of Lithuania (Vyriausiasis Lietuvos išlaisvinimo komitetas, VLIK), relying on its right to speak on behalf of the subjugated nation and its belief in the meaning of the Helsinki Accords, emphasised the importance of the Madrid conference for the liberation activities of Lithuania. One more aspect of the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, specifically the territorial integrity principle applicable to the liberation process of the Baltic States, was raised in the Spanish capital. Starting in 1981, the VLIK sought to draw international attention to the situation of Lithuanian dissidents in the Soviet Union and drafted memoranda on the situation in Lithuania. After it was ascertained that there was no possibility to raise the case of Lithuania’s freedom at the United Nations, focus was shifted to the situation evolving in Europe. A permanent VLIK representative for maintaining contacts with the European Parliament (EP) was therefore appointed. In co-operation with the Lithuanian diplomatic service and political organisations, the VLIK operated consistently and saw the passing of an EP resolution on the situation in the Baltic States in 1983. Observing signs of a new political trend in the liberation process of Lithuania, the VLIK sought to ensure that the ‘passive position of non-recognition of the occupation of Lithuania’ would become ‘an active and effective campaign’. To this end, expanding the geographical scope of its political activities, the VLIK established and strengthened its representative offices in North and South America, Australia, and Europe. The earlier strategy of cooperation between Lithuanians in the free world and those in the occupied country remained. Having established its intention to restore the ‘execution of the sovereign powers of Lithuania’, VLIK urged political figures at the Vienna conference to hold ‘a broader campaign in Europe’.

The End of the Supranational Dream of the European Union: Toward a More Nationalist and Intergovernmental Union

This article questions and analyses the supranational aspirations of the European Union (EU) over its intergovernmental policies. It addresses first nationalism followed by neo-functionalism, supranationalism, and intergovernmentalism; the dominant theories in European integration. The purpose of the study is to reflect the EU’s supranational limitations. Our main research question is to determine whether there is a new form of Europeanism across Europe. The study shows the rising nationalism across Europe, through the 2019 and 2024 European Parliament (EP) elections, and the growing Euroscepticism through public opinion surveys. Moreover, a “policy analysis” is conducted through the EP resolutions between 1999 and 2024 and in European laws through Eur-lex, to reflect the number of intergovernmental operations. The overall findings indicate that many EU countries have ambiguous positions and altered views on the EU, between “Europhoria” and “Europhobia”. The study suggests a new form of Europeanism is growing, between Pro-Europeanism and Anti-Europeanism: “Adapted-Europeanism”. This new typology is introduced to refer to countries asking for less but more adapted integrational policies.

Hungary's attacks on human dignity: Article 2 TEU and the foundations of democracy in the European Union

AbstractWhile in Poland the October 2023 elections led to a government halting the rule of law crisis, in Hungary the political situation continues to deteriorate. Focusing on European Parliament resolutions, this article analyses Hungarian developments from the prism of human dignity, the EU's first foundational value under Article 2 TEU. First the article discusses the key features of human dignity with reference to the original commitment to human dignity under the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and to the EU Charter. Secondly, it uses these key features as an analytical grid for evidencing the construction of a counter‐model of human beings made to live in a society of inequality and exclusion. Finally, this paper outlines five reasons why human dignity as the first Article 2 value is breached by the Hungarian regime and why the EU Commission's decision not to trigger Article 7(2) is so problematic.

Administrative Procedure under the Legislation of Ukraine and Certain Foreign Countries (Comparative Legal Study)

The relevance of the research topic is due to the need to analyse the experience of regulatory definition of administrative procedures in foreign countries. It characterizes models of systematizing procedural legislation in certain developed countries worldwide and in Ukraine. Emphasis is placed on Ukraine adopting a model of systematizing administrative procedural legislation that involves the adoption of a general act on administrative procedure with the preservation of the priority of special legislation. This approach aligns with the recommendations of the institutions of the Council of Europe and the European Union, particularly Recommendation CM/Rec(2007)7 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe of June 20, 2007, to member states on good administration, and the European Parliament Resolution of January 15, 2013, with recommendations from the Commission on Administrative Procedure Law in the European Union. The latter document envisages that the general act on administrative procedure should contain a universal set of principles and outline a procedure applicable as de minimis provisions when there is no lex specialis. The purpose of the article is to reveal the peculiarities of legal regulation of administrative procedures under the laws of foreign countries. It is argued that updated legislation should include referral norms that clearly address the legal practitioner (other subjects endowed with administrative-procedural legal status) to a specific procedure defined by sectoral legislation. This is particularly relevant to cases handled by administrative authorities on their own initiative. The study uses the comparative legal method to establish the common and distinctive features of legal regulation of administrative and procedural legislation of foreign countries. The author examines the peculiarities of legal regulation of administrative procedures in certain European countries. It is noted that the implementation of legislation on administrative procedure in Ukraine should be carried out using the existing experience of countries where the relevant changes have already been implemented. It is emphasized that in the future, attention should be focused on the formation of a homogeneous national law enforcement practice, which is determined by a unified approach to the interpretation of procedural law. Based on the study, the author formulates the following conclusions and makes recommendations: at the initial stage, it is worthwhile to establish communication between representatives (officials) of administrative bodies and judges of administrative courts with a view to taking a number of measures to ensure effective implementation of domestic administrative procedure legislation; to ensure data exchange within the administration and to identify practical problems which may arise in the process of harmonization of the entire array of legal acts around the basic Law of Ukraine "On Administrative Procedure".

Features of social protection by implementing the right to disconnect

The article examines the realisation of the right to disconnect in the framework of workers’ social protection. The study explores different approaches to the definition of a new right. The right to disconnect is analysed on the basis of targeting and universality of social protection, soft and hard measures, the components of the new right, which include workers’ opportunity, employers’ responsibility, communication between employers and workers, protection from adverse consequences. The legal acts that serve as a foundation of the right to disconnect create a separate work pattern of teleworkers, which affects the formation of the targeting approach to social protection. The regulation of the right to disconnect introduced in European Social Partner framework agreement on digitalisation and European Parliament resolution of 21 January 2021 with recommendations to the Commission on the right to disconnect gives a more universal approach. The Resolution acknowledges the right to disconnect as a fundamental right and proposes hard regulatory and technological measures to ensure observation of work and rest periods. The agreement is based on the change in corporate culture. It is revealed that nowadays the right to disconnect serves as the only project aimed at regulating digital working relations in the framework of social protection of remote workers, however R2D can be limited by a narrow category of teleworkers. Debates over the right to disconnect touch upon the issue of the effectiveness of social dialogue in the context of adaptation to digital work organisation, as well as the possibility of keeping binary understanding of work and rest periods.

Austerity and its alternatives in the European parliament: from the Eurozone crisis to the COVID-19 crisis

This article examines the role of the European parliament (EP) in providing ideational alternatives to austerity in the context of the Eurozone crisis and the COVID-19 crisis. Despite the EP’s limited formal role in EU economic governance, it is a key site for democratic debate and contestation. Analyzing EP debates about austerity allows us to understand the possibilities and limitations for ideational change at the EU level from the perspective of supranational party politics. Through a longitudinal analysis (2012–2021) of EP resolutions on the European Commission’s Annual Growth Surveys, the article asks how ideational battles around austerity have unfolded between the EP’s political groups and what factors have shaped the EP’s positions. Theoretically, the article draws on the literature on ideational political economy and discoursive institutionalism. The article argues that instead of providing alternatives, the EP and its Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs have contributed to the ideational hold of austerity due to the weakness of the alternatives of the center-left and their compatibility with austerity. Party-political and institutional factors, such as broad left/right compromises and a strict division of labor between the EP’s committees, further constrain ideational change.

Anchoring or Undermining Democracy: The European People's Party and Democratic Backsliding in Serbia

AbstractThis article considers how the European People's Party (EPP) responded to democratic backsliding in Serbia that unfolded under the leadership of its affiliate, the Serbian Progressive Party. Drawing on a qualitative analysis of the European Parliament resolutions and the responses of EPP legislators, the article demonstrates that the EPP has systematically ignored increasingly non‐democratic practices in Serbia. Seeking a wider pan‐European sway, the EPP strove to protect its Serbian member driven by strategic concerns and the logic of partisan allegiance. While there was a high level of intra‐party cohesion, a few EPP members consistently dissented and did not toe the party line. Their positions were fundamentally informed by contrasting normative commitments to liberal democratic principles and ideological proximity to the Serbian Progressive Party.

Abortion under the aegis of women’s sexual and reproductive rights and health - legal analysis of European Parliament Resolution 2020/2215 (INI)

Rad donosi pravnu analizu Rezolucije o stanju u pogledu seksualnog i reproduktivnog zdravlja i prava u EU-u u kontekstu zdravlja žena 2020/2215 (INI) te njezinih metodoloških i terminoloških aspekata. Analitičkom metodom razrađena je formalnopravna, materijalnopravna i šira sadržajna struktura ovog dokumenta s ciljem prikaza pravne utemeljenosti kako intervencije na ovom području tako i sadržaja, ali i obuhvatnosti uključenih prava s obzirom da se ovaj dokument koristi proširenim pojmom seksualnog i reproduktivnog zdravlja i prava te pobačaj proklamira kao temeljno ljudsko pravo, za što nema osnove u suvremenom međunarodnopravnom sustavu temeljnih ljudskih prava na koji se izrijekom poziva. Detaljnom pravnom egzegezom nastoji se ukazati na metodološke, terminološke i sadržajne nedostatke ovog dokumenta koji razmatra važna pitanja seksualnog i reproduktivnog zdravlja žena, ali ih nadilazi kako svojom formalnopravnom tako i sadržajnom strukturom, a osobito političkim ciljevima usmjerenima na stvaranje novih prava i kulturnih obrazaca. U tu je svrhu ova analiza provedena uz paralelni okvirni prikaz šireg konteksta suvremenih procesa stvaranja novih prava koji su sami po sebi nužni, ali postoje određeni pravni, društveni i etički parametri na koje ukazujemo i koje je u tim procesima potrebno poštivati, a koji su jamac vladavine prava koja štiti i od pretjerane političke moći.

Personal Dimension of the Right to Disconnect in the EU Directive Draft

This paper tackles the issue of the personal scope of the right to disconnect as the right of a worker to refrain from engaging in work-related tasks and not to participate in communication with employer for a work-related purpose, in particular communication via digital tools such as email and telephone. The reference point of the analysis undertaken will be the EU directive draft regulating the right of workers to disconnect contained in the European Parliament resolution adopted on 21 January 2021. The issue addressed is part of a broader discussion on the legal model of labour provision that has long accompanied the academic debate among Polish and foreign labour law scholars. The prevailing view among those working on this topic, which is correct in principle, is that the protection of employment law should be extended to self-employed workers. There are differences of opinion as to how such protection would be implemented and, in particular, to whom it would apply and to what extent it would apply.

Sexual Assault and Indirect Perpetration. Pimps, Clients and Rape of Prostituted Persons

The European Parliament Resolution of 10 February 2021 on the implementation of Directive 2011/36/EU on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting victims (2020/2029(INI)), on the one hand, recalls that Member States have a legal obligation to discourage and reduce the demand for all forms of exploitation, and, on the other hand, calls on the Member States to include the knowing use of the services of victims of trafficking as a criminal offence in their national statutes, as recommended by Article 18 of the Anti-Trafficking Directive, and reiterated by the Commission in 2018, and to provide for effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties. The paper addresses the response of one of the Member States, Spain, which does not expressly punish clients who have sexual relations with victims of sexual exploitation but does punish both the crime of forced prostitution and sexual assaults committed against the victim of this crime. A correct interpretation of the application of these criminal offences makes it possible to punish not only the pimp but also the client who knows that he/she is having sexual intercourse with a victim of sexual exploitation. This provides an interpretative solution that aligns with the requirements of the European Parliament Resolution of 10 February 2021 and may be helpful for other Member States.

The Risk-Based Approach of the European Union’s Proposed Artificial Intelligence Regulation: Some Comments from a Tort Law Perspective

AbstractHow can tort law contribute to a better understanding of the risk-based approach in the European Union’s (EU) Artificial Intelligence Act proposal and evolving liability regime? In a new legal area of intense development, it is pivotal to make the best use possible of existing regulation and legal knowledge. The main objective of this article is thus to investigate the relationship between traditional tort law principles, with a focus on risk assessments, and the developing legislation on artificial intelligence (AI) in the EU. The article offers a critical analysis and evaluation from a tort law perspective of the risk-based approach in the proposed AI Act and the European Parliament resolution on a civil liability regime for AI, with comparisons also to the proposal for a revised and AI-adapted product liability directive and the recently proposed directive on civil liability for AI. The discussion leads to the illumination of both challenges and possibilities in the interplay between AI, tort law and the concept of risk, displaying the large potential of tort law as a tool for handling rising AI issues.

LEGAL SOLUTIONS CONCERNING THE REDISTRIBUTIVE FUNCTION OF PUBLIC FINANCE AS A TOOL TO SUPPORT BIODIVERSITY

Currently, the European Union, being aware of the deepening crisis of biodiversity, is setting increasingly ambitious goals in the field of nature protection, introducing tools which may make their pursuit more effective. The implementation of this strategy means, inter alia, that EUR 20 billion per year will be allocated to activities connected with the protection of biodiversity in the EU, 30% of land and seas are to be protected by 2030, and 10% of their area are to be strictly protected. The aim of the discussion in this article is therefore to determine whether, and if so, how biodiversity can be more effectively supported by the legal solutions concerning the redistributive function of public finances in relation to agriculture, introduced, inter alia, by the Commission in the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 and by the European Parliament Resolution.

The measures on platform work: from the proposed Directive to the draft European Parliament Resolution. Towards increasing protections?

The measures on platform work: from the proposed Directive to the draft European Parliament Resolution. Towards increasing protections?

The Praxiological Model of the Integrated Sports Concept in the Republic of Moldova

The article describes important elements of the Integrated Concept of Sport in the Republic of Moldova, focused on elements of good governance, protection of minors, fight against doping and corruption. Sport is a field that contributes substantially to sustainable development and economic growth of a state, ensuring an added value in its gross domestic product and the insertion of the specialists in the field on the labor market. National sports organizations are responsible for ensuring good governance in the reference field, its integrity in order to continuously improve the public's confidence in the positive values of sport and to increase the quality of life with its support. Moreover, ensuring good governance in national sport is dictated by the respect for the principle of autonomy and compliance with the legal framework of sports organizations (regulations, instructions, methodologies, etc.). Thus, good governance must "ensure the proper observance and regulation of the field through the principles of efficient, transparent, ethical and democratic management, sports diplomacy, fair play, participatory management, processes and structures with the participation of stakeholders" European Parliament Resolution of 2 February 2017 on an integrated approach to sport policy: good governance, accessibility and integrity 2016/2143 (INI). Good governance is needed to meet the challenges of sport and the legal framework of the European Union. Doping and corruption in sport, identified at national and European level, lead to the creation of an inadequate image of sport. Also, respect and protection of human rights, especially of minors, must be national principles of the rule of law. In this context, we can assert that the elaboration of the praxiological model of the Integrated Concept of sport at national level can strengthen the adjustment directions through modifications / proposals to the local legal framework that regulates the reference field in consensus with the European one.

Documentation III. Breach Of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Use of Minors by the Moroccan Authorities in the Migratory Crisis in Ceuta, European Parliament Resolution of 10 June 2021

Documentation III. Breach Of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Use of Minors by the Moroccan Authorities in the Migratory Crisis in Ceuta, European Parliament Resolution of 10 June 2021

Robot as Legal Person: Electronic Personhood in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence.

This paper seeks to investigate the proposal to create a legal (electronic) personhood for robots with artificial intelligence based on the European Parliament resolution with recommendations on Civil Law and Robotics. To this end, we highlight the various risks and problems present in this type of initiative, especially in view of the current trend of expanding legal subjectivity in various jurisdictions. In addition to an anthropomorphic rhetoric, we can observe the prevalence of a pragmatic line that seeks to be guided, mainly, by the model of corporations, without taking into account, however, problems present in the process of embodiment of companies and the particular function of the term legal person in the grammar of Law.

Poland\u2019s stance on CAI: no need for haste

Poland was among vocal critics of the acceleration and finalization of CAI talks by the end of 2020. Among the reasons were doubts about the timing and political circumstances in the EU such as the role of Germany as a driving force for CAI due to its economic dependence on China, and Commission mandate for talks that was granted several years ago in a very different situation both in China and Europe. Poland was also critical about bypassing the USA, in a sense of bringing CAI talks up to speed during the transition period, before Biden sworn. However, after finalization of the agreement, Polish government (as well as the biggest opposition party) presents a rather positive assessment of CAI and opts for ratification. Notwithstanding, all Polish MEPs have endorsed the European Parliament resolution to freeze ratification process.

The Legal Nature and the Place of the Right to Disconnect in European and in Russian Labour Law

The first part of this article is devoted to the legislative proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and the Council on the right to disconnect that was adopted on 21 January 2021 in the European Parliament Resolution. In this part of the article the legal nature of the “right to disconnect, “the personal and material scope of this right as well as the relationship to other (fundamental) labour rights and different aspects of the employment relationship are analysed. Furthermore, the author discloses the gaps of the legislative proposal and makes some suggestions concerning a new concept of working conditions. The second part of the article focuses on Russian labour law. During the process of reforming the legislation on remote work it was widely discussed whether “a right to disconnect” should be provided for in the Russian Labour Code. The author analyses problems with the organisation of working time concerning the application of a special working regime entitled “unregular working day” and the recording of working time. Furthermore, the perspectives of the application of self-protection of labour rights as a way to guarantee the right to disconnect are examined. The conclusion stresses which measures would be necessary for an effective execution and enforcement of the right to disconnect.

Trade in agricultural real estate in the light of the european soft law

The subject of the analysis are new tendencies in the European soft law pertaining to agricultural land management and agricultural property trade. In 2017, a European Parliament resolution was published on the current state of agricultural land concentration in the EU. This same year, on 18 October, European Commission formulated a statement that responded to this resolution by defining the control limits of property rights for the European Union authorities, based on a line set by the Court of Justice and the guiding principles of the TFEU.