European Union Rule Research Articles

Something between a colleague and a tool: exploring the complex nexus between the role, responsibilities, and expectations of language assistants in multinational police settings in Kosovo (1999–2018)

ABSTRACT The United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) included armed international police officers (IPOs) vested with transitional executive authorities from 1999 to 2018. IPOs initially assumed full policing responsibilities in cooperation with language assistants (LAs), until recruited Kosovo Police officers (KPOs) underwent training and integrated into multinational police teams. Drawing on twenty-three ethnographic interviews conducted between 2018 and 2021, this article explores stakeholders’ perspectives on the role and expectations of police LAs. The analysis reveals that, besides serving as communication facilitators, cultural mediators, fixers, and repositories of cultural knowledge and information, LAs transcended conventional translator and interpreter roles by proactively assuming police officers’ responsibilities, including statement-taking, assisting with reports, and proofreading. However, LAs encountered trust issues stemming from IPOs’ apprehensions about losing control due to the language gap and deviations from literalism, coupled with KPOs’ concerns about LAs’ potential influence on their performance evaluations and promotions. Moreover, IPOs from authoritarian states and militarized police backgrounds tended to perceive LAs as tools rather than equal team members. Interviews indicate that a professional LA, beyond linguistic proficiency, embodies strong interpersonal skills and professional qualities essential for fostering trust and effective communication.

Does the European Union's rule of law require the criminalisation of EU public officials? A first appraisal

AbstractThis article emphasises the role of criminal law as a strategic form of accountability aimed at safeguarding the EU rule of law, especially when public officials are entrusted with powers that may violate fundamental rights. Abuses committed in the context of border management serve as a case study and a test bench for the more general argument developed in the contribution. It is argued that criminal law—through sanctioning serious abuse of power irrespective of any lucrative intent—contributes to the legitimacy of policies and actions carried out in the name of the union. As impunity gaps may result from the difficult application of domestic law, the article maintains that it is necessary to stigmatise at the union's level such misdeeds that go beyond cases of mere bad policy or ‘maladministration’. It therefore advocates for a directive requiring Member States to criminalise abuse of powers, which are in breach of the rule of law as one of the foundational values enshrined in Article 2 TEU.

THE TERRITORIAL REACH OF EUROPEAN UNION LAW: A PRIVATE INTERNATIONAL LAW ENQUIRY INTO THE EUROPEAN UNION'S SPATIAL IDENTITY

AbstractThis article offers a reconstruction of how the Court of Justice of the European Union (EU) justifies the territorial scope of application of EU law. Scholarship on this issue tends to advocate for an expansive projection of EU norms in the pursuit of global values, subject to the external limits of public international law. This article will develop a critique of this approach by pointing to its underlying assumptions as to the territorial dimension of the EU's rule, the insoluble practical issues that it leads to, and the need to consider differently the EU's spatial identity and relation to the wider world. It will also be argued that, in fact, other case law sometimes already reflects an alternative vision, by imagining the EU implicitly, not as a ‘global actor’ promoting universal values, but as a concretely situated and spatially bounded community. It will be shown that this is so with the methodological help of private international law, and in particular three doctrines that are traditional to this discipline—the localisation of cross-border relations, international imperativeness, and the public policy exception. This will ultimately allow for a more sophisticated understanding of the EU's territory to emerge—irreducible to the physical coordinates of its acts of intervention, or the mere sum of the physical spaces under Member State sovereignty, but as a distinct space of social relations, informed and delineated by the particular axiology and structure of the EU legal system.

The making of landmark rulings in the European Union: the case of national judicial independence

ABSTRACT We study the conditions under which the European Court of Justice (ECJ) expanded the European Union's reach into issues of national judicial independence. The ECJ's 2018 ruling in a case known as Portuguese Judges contained a far-reaching constitutional interpretation that had a transformative impact on the European Union's rule of law crisis. We conduct a theoretically guided investigation into both the domestic origins and the judicial outcome in the Portuguese Judges case. We show how the ECJ, with implicit support from the majority of the Member States, strategically exploited suitable characteristics of an inconspicuous case to produce a landmark ruling that enabled unprecedented enforcement action against democratic backsliding in Poland and Hungary.

ECONOMIC POLICY OF THE STATE IN CONDITIONS OF INFORMATIZATION OF HEALTH CARE IN UKRAINE AS AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE SOCIAL SPHERE

The purpose of the article is to analyze domestic and international legal norms on the protection of medical information in order to improve the system of national legislation in the field of health care. The methodological basis of this study is a system of methods, the set of which is determined by the purpose and features of the study: dialectical, systemic, system-structural, analytical-synthetic, comparative-legal methods of analysis of domestic and international legal regulation of economic policy of the state in the conditions of informatization of health care of Ukraine. It argues that Ukraine, seeking to integrate into the European space and building its own strategy of economic development, must be clearly aware of both its capabilities and external factors of influence. The choice of possible alternatives is too complex a task, but the leading idea of socio-economic policy should remain the desire to ensure sustainable economic development of the country. In particular, the following is analyzed: recent international and domestic normative acts regulating state economic policy activities in the field of health care informatization in Ukraine: in particular, General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union (GDPR), CMS Interoperability and Patient Access Final Rule, ONC's Cure Act Final Rule, Order of functioning of the electronic health care system of Ukraine; materials of judicial practice, including materials of cases of the European Court of Human Rights, the results of sociological research. A comparative analysis of the GDPR and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was conducted. The main problematic issues of state economic policy in the context of health informatization in Ukraine are highlighted. Compared to previous regulations governing medical data, the GDPR pays much more attention to the implementation of new requirements that have arisen due to the growing digitalization of healthcare, and therefore may contribute to strengthening their protection. Results. It is theoretically substantiated that quality medical reform is possible only with the introduction of modern methods of informatization and, consequently, information protection. As the analysis has shown, currently in Ukraine the legal system providing information protection in the medical sphere needs immediate improvement. This requires: systematizing and codifying national legislation in accordance with European legal norms and international law; developing a comprehensive legislative act, which would regulate the collection, protection and transition of medical information at the legislative level, following the example of GDPR (for structuring the medical information system, ensuring mandatory certification for information protection, development of cryptography/encryption technologies, delimitation of rights of access to information for medical workers, ensuring access to information with mandatory use of electronic signature, medical workers need to take short courses and register with information security specialists (defined access rights and the ability to change the level of access, provide input for identification and authentication), correcting data and entering new information is carried out with a confirmation of electronic signature, develop an algorithm for transferring information between medical institutions).

Between Populism and Technocracy: How National Executives in Bulgaria and Serbia Manipulate EU Rule of Law Conditionality

This article explores how national executives in Serbia and Bulgaria address European Union (EU) rule of law conditionality by framing it within the populism/technocracy dichotomy. The rule of law remains one of the main problems of EU relations with the two countries. While acknowledging the nuances of pre- and post-enlargement Europeanisation, this article explores the technocratic and populist narratives exploited by the national executives in their interactions with the EU and their domestic public. Rather than positioning the current executives unequivocally either as populist or technocratic, we argue that the political elites act strategically in using both populist and technocratic techniques towards their publics when explaining interaction with the EU. We explore the extent this type of executive behaviour is determined by the countries’ formally different status. While we look for the levels of possible similarity and distinction in the two cases/countries stemming from their different EU membership status, our findings confirm the existence of strategic defensive populist and technocratic techniques applied towards the EU and the national public in both countries The aim of this strategy is to mitigate the impact of the EU rule of law pressure and to secure the persistence of the existing rule of law shortcomings within the process of European integration. Interestingly, our research did not identify substantial impact of the formally different status towards the EU of the two countries.

The Autonomy of EU Law: A Hartian View

This article aims to reconstruct and theorise the autonomy of the European Union (EU) legal system by drawing on Hartian legal theory. It comprises four claims. First, the European Court of Justice's (ECJ) 'foundational case law' on autonomy – and direct effect and supremacy as its corollaries – is conceptualised as a second-order thesis about the genus to which EU law belongs (the 'autonomy thesis'). Second, the ECJ's reliance on the full effectiveness of EU law as a justification for the autonomy thesis alludes to the deep connection between legality and effectiveness, but this connection cannot rationally explain the normativity of the autonomy thesis as an internal statement of law. Third, in order to provide such an explanation, the autonomy thesis is reconceptualised as an 'internal recognitional statement' by which the ECJ asserts a normative formulation of an autonomous EU rule of recognition. Fourth, within this Hartian analysis of the EU legal system, the doctrines of direct effect and supremacy lack self-standing analytical value. This article finishes with some very preliminary observations on a well-known objection against the autonomy of EU law based on the attitudes and perspectivism of national courts.

Contestation of Kosovo’s Statehood from Within: EULEX Judges Adjudicating Privatization Matters through ‘Status Neutrality’

Abstract Kosovo’s statehood has been contested by foes as well as friends. Much is known about the former and less about the latter. This contribution explores the contestation of Kosovo’s independence by the judges of the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (eulex) working on privatization matters before Kosovo courts. As put by the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Kosovo (kcc), eulex judges working on privatization matters, “simply continued to ignore the existence of Kosovo as an independent State and its legislation emanating from its Assembly”. The kcc stated this after eulex judges working on privatization matters had refused to respect Kosovo laws and institutions subsequent to the 2008 Kosovo Declaration of Independence. This paper explores the judicial dialogue on Kosovo’s independence between eulex judges and the kcc and identifies the limitations and risks of the ‘status neutral’ policy applied by international organizations to collaborate with Kosovar institutions without prejudging its political status. This submission suggests that ‘status neutrality’ leads to either acceptance or contestation of Kosovo’s statehood and thus brings more uncertainty than clarity to Kosovo’s position in international relations.

Kosovo: A Silent European Consensus

The present tensions in Belgrade–Pristina relations highlight the relevance of a consensus regarding the question of Kosovo. This article argues that the cyclical nature of Kosovo’s history has been muted by the thesis ‘Kosovo is a unique case’ which through unilateral decisions produced various legal schizophrenias. These legal schizophrenias embodied in a power triangle—Ahtisaari Plan–European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX)–Kosovo’s Constitution. Despite gaps and inherited chaos, the indisputable achievements of the EU’s efforts in normalizing relations between Belgrade and Pristina show that the EU not only can facilitate peace but also possesses the capacity to achieve a consensus. Already there is a ‘silent’ consensus among actors on the status of Kosovo—the European protectorate. The article also discusses institutional design based on the consensus, which aims to promote shared narratives.

Solid-phase microextraction based on nickel-foam@polydopamine followed by ion mobility spectrometry for on-site detection of Sudan dyes in tomato sauce and hot-pot sample

Sudan dyes are one kind of synthetic azo dyes that are forbidden to use in foodstuffs according to the European Union Rule. In this work, considering the structure of Sudan dyes, nickel-foam@polydopamine (NF@PDA) was prepared through the self-polymerization of dopamine on the nickel-foam surface under weak alkaline conditions and used as SPME material to selectively extract the Sudan dyes. With the feature of three dimension (3D) cross-linked grid structure, large porosity and specific surface area, Ni-foam was selected as carrier material which can increase mass adsorption capacity. The primary parameters affecting extraction efficiency such as extraction time, extraction temperature, stirring speed, pH value, ionic strength and desorption time were investigated and optimized. After the Sudan dyes were eluted from the NF@PDA, the eluate was detected by IMS with a corona discharge (CD) ionization source. Thus, an innovative and rapid screening method coupling the NF@PDA to ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) was developed. Under the optimal extraction conditions, the detection limits for Sudan dyes were in the range from 0.005 μg g−1 to 0.25 μg g−1. The spiked recoveries were in the range from 81% to 91.3% by testing tomato sauce and hot-pot sample and validated by the UPLC-MS. Based on the results, the PDA coating has great ability for the extraction of Sudan dyes, mainly due to the catechol structure, electron-deficient quinones and amine groups on its surface. Thus, the developed method has great potential for on-site rapid screening of the Sudan dyes in food quarantine field.

Human security in EU strategy: reflecting on the experience of EUPM in Bosnia and Herzegovina and EULEX in Kosovo

ABSTRACTIn the early 2000s, the EU incrementally appeared to have espoused a distinguishing human security discourse. This was bound not only to inform its crisis management operations but also to shape its global role. Today, the Union seems to move toward a global strategy blueprint and an ensuing public discourse. Human security is no longer mentioned as a grand objective, though it has not been moved to the background. It is cited as an end of one just component of EU global strategy. This article tries to map out how relevant EU texts speak about human security and highlights benchmarks in the cases of the European Union Police Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo. By focusing on the mandate and effects of these civilian missions, it finds that the Union has refrained from operationalising a human security perspective to direct them. Although it has not taken steps to internalize and turn human security into an overarching driver of its engagement, elements of human security advancement might be recorded.

Biomass-based energy on the move – The geographical expansion of the European Union’s liquid biofuel regulation

The growth of biomass-based markets for transport fuel is an expanding geographical process driven by regulation in the European Union (EU). Based on a certification scheme that illustrates the regulatory mechanisms in the EU’s liquid biofuel market, this article explains how larger processes of territorialisation and uneven development interact with specific processes of commodity production and flexing in this expansion. The study combines a content analysis of certification standards with a spatio-temporal analysis of data from certificates distributed 2010–2017. It shows that certification standards mirror EU regulation and, importantly, how the activities of firms extend EU rule beyond its territory. It suggests that the regulatory mechanisms seem to promote vertical integration, encourage large-scale production via horizontal integration of several different industries, and exclude small-scale production. Hence, it argues that the EU-based territorialisation re-produces historical patterns of territorial accumulation of land-based resources, wherein agro-industrial economic clusters in the global North accumulate value by exploiting biomass producers in the global South.

The European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo: An Effective Conflict Prevention and Peace-Building Mission?

ABSTRACTThis article appraises effectiveness in operational conflict prevention. By focusing on the European Union Rule of Law Mission (EULEX) in Kosovo, it assesses the most extensive civilian Common Security and Defence Policy mission so far. Contrary to prevailing assessments, it posits that EULEX, despite its challenges and deficiencies, presents positive contributions to operational conflict prevention, and peace-building in general. This is uncovered through structured focused analysis according to effectiveness criteria and success indicators that allow for identification of and distinction between different types and levels of effectiveness, considering both means applied and ends achieved. In so doing, the article contributes to the general literature on operational conflict prevention and on the specific case of Kosovo. The empirical analysis is based on fieldwork and semi-structured interviews with EU personnel, governmental and non-governmental actors in Kosovo, and independent observers.

Local contestation against the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo

ABSTRACTThis article examines local contestation against the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX), manifesting itself in local actors publicly demanding a change in the mission’s mandate and/or its operations. The article investigates how EULEX’s actions and its effectiveness are perceived and reacted upon by the local actors. It shows that local contestation is mainly fueled by (1) conflicting sovereignty claims by the majority Albanians and the minority Serbs; (2) the understanding of sovereignty by parts of society as entailing exclusive authority; and (3) dissatisfaction with the mission’s effectiveness. By addressing EULEX from a bottom-up perspective—that of the local actors—the article underlines the limitations of EU policies in post-conflict Kosovo.

A two‐tier conception of European Union peoplehood: A realist study of European citizens’ bonds of collectivity

AbstractThe European Union (EU) struggles to legitimate its rule. This realist study develops a conception of peoplehood in the EU polity, because, in contemporary Europe, ‘the people’ remains the sole source of political legitimacy. From a realist perspective, a conception of peoplehood should yield a coherent story why EU citizens should accept, or at least acquiesce, to EU rule. This study explores the possibility of a pluralistic conception being either multi‐layered, multi‐faceted or both. Taking a practice‐dependent approach, I first analyse the institutional systems that structure relationships between EU citizens. I secondly propose conceptions of EU citizens’ bonds of collectivity. Thirdly, I develop a novel two‐tier conception of EU peoplehood in which individuals remain bound together as national peoples, while these peoples are in turn united by commercial and liberal bonds. I submit that this conception can lay the foundation for a convincing story to legitimate EU rule.

The European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo: An Analysis from the Local Perspective

The European Union (EU) has been actively involved in peacebuilding in Kosovo since 1999. This article examines the EU’s post-conflict reconstruction activities in Kosovo in the aftermath of Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence, with particular emphasis on the track record of the EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) and its involvement in Security Sector Reform. The article focuses on the nexus between the implementation of the local ownership principle and the local perceptions and legitimacy of EULEX. It offers an analysis of the obstacles and challenges faced by the mission.

Fighting Organized Crime in Kosovo

Organized crime can endanger the security of any country, but particularly those with fragile democracies that lack experience effectively managing it. Such crime is a considerable threat to the security of every country in the Balkans, to the region in general and specifically to Kosovo. Events in the former Yugoslavia in 1990-1999 created great difficulties not only for the new states that emerged, but also for their integration and development. The region is known as an “organized crime haven.” While this epithet may be an exaggeration, the truth is that for the last 20 years, while various industries have failed, the organized crime “industry” has been thriving, working day and night at full capacity. Since 1999, Kosovo has gone through three phases of institutional transition: the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) period in 1999-2008; the declaration of independence on February 17, 2008; and the arrival of new European Union Rule of Law (EULEX) mission in 2009 that was established to facilitate the integration process with the EU. Nonetheless, the international community still considers the region to be fragile and challenging. This has caused a major shift in the geostrategic assessment of the Balkans’ importance. The region is now seen not for its natural or military advantages, but for the risks that it can export. Predominant among them is the phenomenon of organized crime.

The Continuing Relevance of the Hybrid or Internationalized Justice Model: The Example of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers

In August 2015, the Assembly of Kosovo established the Specialist Chambers (SC) and the associated Specialist Prosecutor’s Office (SPO) with the mandate of prosecuting international and trans-boundary crimes committed during and after the 1998–1999 Kosovo armed conflict. The objectives in this article assessing the SC are twofold. First, the aim is to provide a critical account of the process that led to the establishment of the SC. It will be inquired whether the decision to create yet another international criminal judicial institution was, from the perspective of judicial economy, the most defensible one. Arguments could be made for instance that the European Union Rule of Law Mission (EULEX) and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) would have been better-equipped institutions, given their expertise of the conflict and patterns of crimes under the jurisdiction of the SC. Secondly, the article will delve into some issues of substantive law of particular interest for the SC, namely the applicable law of crimes against humanity and the provisions in the Law establishing the SC under which to prosecute and adjudicate the practice of organ trafficking.

Enforcing EU Values: Reverse <i>Solange</i> and a Systemic Deficiency Committee

Some of the Member States of the European Union (EU) are threatening fundamental principles enshrined in Article 2 TEU. Authoritarian tendencies, threatening democracy and human rights, are evident in Hungary and Romania. In Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, and again Romania, systemic corruption and the weakness of some domestic institutions threaten the Union’s fundamental rule of law principle. The financial crisis has aggravated some of the deficiencies. It adds to the sense of crisis that to date only few EU remedies exist. We suggest the establishment of a "Systemic Deficiency Committee" to suplemment the new EU Rule of Law Framework introduced by the Commission in 2014.

The Specialist Court for Kosovo: continuity or departure from the hybrid courts model?

The issue of whether to establish Specialist Chambers within the Kosovo justice system for alleged war crimes committed in Kosovo has been, arguably, one of the most heated debates not only from a political and social point of view, but also from a legal one. While the required amendments in the Constitution and several laws of Kosovo necessary to establish the Specialist Chambers in furtherance of the agreement dated 14 April 2014 between the Republic of Kosovo and the European Union on the Mission of the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (“EULEX”) will certainly create heated debates in the political level, one may argue that the legal issues that are expected to be encountered when the Specialist Chambers will be operational, may be even more pressing. This is in consideration of the peculiar nature of the Specialist Chambers, which are meant to have their basis within the laws of Kosovo, but at the same time, be independent from them and from control of Kosovo authorities. The purpose of this article is to delineate the possible legal issues that might confront the Specialist Chambers of Kosovo. Its main argument is that, while the Specialist Chambers seem to follow the experience of other hybrid internationalised courts, it still differs from them in some aspects. The challenges that the new Specialist Chambers may need to tackle deal with its jurisdiction and position within the Kosovo Judicial system, and its legitimacy and legal basis.