The EU’s proactivity in dealing with ‘rule of law-related’ matters is undisputed.As emphasised already, the EU actively engages in ensuring that candidate states comply with the rule of law before allowing their accession: this is done by enforcing the Copenhagen Criteria, which have become the customary law on membership. Nevertheless, it would be wrong to…
What do technology, green economy and war industry have in common? Lantanoids. This term refers to a group of seventeen chemical elements, present in the periodic table, ranging from lanthanum to lutetium, to which scandium and yttrium are added. These metals are also known as rare earths. The adjective “rare”, however, is not used in…
Africa is not poor, it was always a rich country. The first ones to understand this were the Europeans who, during the second half of the 19th century, initiated a process that today we define as modern colonialism or imperialism, aimed at exploiting the resources of the colonised countries. There was a real race to…
In the last couple of years, the EU has been faced with a new legal challenge: a ‘rule of law crisis’.Poland and Hungary are among the prime examples of Member States in which compliance with the value of the rule of law is questioned and allegations of breaches are being investigated. The paramount legal principle…
There is still no confirmed news about the fate of Saudi opposition writer Jamal Khashoggi, who disappeared last Tuesday when he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to conduct some transactions. The Turkish authorities believe that the prominent Saudi journalist, who disappeared a few days ago, was killed inside the consulate. “The initial assessment of…
By Tim Schofield Throughout human history immigrants have always been a soft target for unscrupulous politicians seeking a bit of cheap popularity. This is especially true of those who are a “bit different”, whether it be skin colour, religion, or just by speaking a different language. They generally don’t have a vote, come with much money,…
Since May 15, human rights groups have reported that Saudi Arabia has arrested at least 11 women’s right activists, seven women and four men. The crackdown has taken place just few weeks before the lifting of the driving ban on women. The activists arrested, well-known in Saudi Arabia for campaigning for women’s right to drive…
The 8th Amendment to the Irish Constitution, which gives equal rights to the life of both the mother and her unborn child, was approved by referendum on 7 September 1983 and signed into law on 7 October 1983. In that autumn of 1983, a 15-year old schoolgirl found out she was pregnant. Her name was Ann…
Poverty pushed me and the director of the camp complain about the poor living conditions of the displaced. A few days ago, a father sold his son for 300 Turkish liras (about 50,000 Syrian pounds) in Al Faraj camp at the Al Karama camps in rural Idlib. Ahmed Hassan al-Ghannam, a displaced person from Aleppo…
Motion 157 This DM notes that, more than sixteen years after the murder of the investigative journalist and Belfast Branch officer Martin O’Hagan, there have been no convictions for the crime, despite the identities of those who ordered and carried out the assassination being widely known. Noting the failure of the investigation by UK police services,…
