Future Of Europe
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Is It Possible to Enhance Accountability Through a Procedure Lacking Transparency?
The European Commission published its proposal regarding the establishment of an interinstitutional EU ethics body in June 2023. The European institutions, particularly the European Parliament, had faced serious scandals and some of its Members faced criminal investigations. It is clear
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Who’s Running the Show? Control Over National Parliaments Through the Modification of the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament
The Constitutional Affairs Committee (AFCO) of the European Parliament (EP or Parliament) adopted recently a proposal to change the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament. The committees of the EP would be able to scrutinize the activities of national parliaments
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Controlled Democracy? The Idea of Introducing Ad Hoc Legislative Committees
The European Parliament (Parliament) is working on a batch of amendments to the Rules of Procedure of the house, based on the report of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs (AFCO). The proposed amendments under the package named “Parliament 2024” reforms
European Values
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Family matters – Irish voters against constitutional change
Ireland is known for its conservative constitution and direct democratic system, relying on referendum in most major government decisions. Article 46 of their Constitution prescribes submission of a Referendum for every amendment proposal of the Constitution to the decision of
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Rule of Law and Academic Freedom (?): Reflections on Hungary’s Case with the Planned Suspension of Erasmus+ and Horizon Europe Funds
In January 2023, the European Commission announced the potential suspension of Erasmus+ and Horizon Europe funds for 21 Hungarian universities. While the discussion is still ongoing, some early conclusions could be drawn on whether this measure complies with the rule
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Hungary -now- in the SPOtlight of the Venice Commission
Recently, my colleague - also my professor and editor of Constitutional Discourse - Márton Sulyok published his article and gave us his opinion on the newly created Sovereignty Protection Office of Hungary and the law that established it, namely the
Tech & AI
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AI for children
How do we ensure that AI is used for good? This is the question that has been debated extensively for the last few years now, especially after we have received news that chips are now being implanted to humans, creating a
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Plain Language and Automation—Possibilities, Drawbacks, and the Reality of Large Language Models (Part II.)
When we approach the issue of plain language from the side of the legislator or the offices, the most important texts may be those that are directly addressed to citizens, expecting them to do something (functional texts). For example, the
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Plain Language and Automation—Possibilities, Drawbacks, and the Reality of Large Language Models (Part I.)
There are perhaps few words that come up more often in public discourse about legal language than complexity and its synonym, difficulty of understanding. The question of how to (and whether it is even necessary to) make legal texts more
Free Speech & Privacy
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European Media Regulation and State Sovereignty: The Tug-of-War Behind the European Media Freedom Act (Part II.)
In the first part of our blog post, we explored the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) and its intent to promote media freedom and pluralism across the EU. Despite its commendable goals, we examined concerns that the EMFA may infringe
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European Media Regulation and State Sovereignty: The Tug-of-War Behind the European Media Freedom Act (Part I.)
In the latest chapter of the European Union’s regulatory endeavors, the Council has adopted the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), a legislative act that ostensibly aims to enhance media freedom, ensure media pluralism, and uphold editorial independence across the EU’s
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Sovereignty in the Age of Social Media—TikTok At the Intersection of National Security, Democracy, and Free Expression (Part II.)
In the previous segment, we delved into the legislative push to address the security concerns associated with TikTok, spotlighted by the bipartisan support for the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act.” This act aims to restrict TikTok’s U.S.