ARCHIVE

Mar 29, 2021
11 min

Mónika MERCZ: Some remarks on Article P) of the Fundamental Law of Hungary

Introduction One of the most important issues we must deal with in 2021 is climate change and its effect on a global scale. There are several treaties aiming to preserve the environment’s well-being. In the case of the European Union Green Deal and Green Transitions became a priority under the UVDL Commission. A huge milestone was reached in July of 2020 because it was the first time that the budget was linked not only to the rule of law but also to environmental protection,

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Constitutional Discourse

Mar 25, 2021
8 min

Márton SULYOK: Size Does Matter (?!)

Some European Debates on the Use of Religious Symbols in the Workplace On 25 February 2021, Athanasios Rantos AG (CJEU) has issued an opinion in two German PRPs (preliminary ruling procedures) on whether an employer’s internal ‘neutrality policy’ can at all prohibit the wearing of large religious symbols, while being more lenient regarding smaller, more modest ones. These neutrality rules obviously encompass all forms of clothing and ‘office wear’ not only specifically identi

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Constitutional Discourse

Mar 20, 2021
5 min

Attila SZABÓ: Past and future of European cities in the constitutional field

Constitutional lawyers usually think that national states are unavoidable. They also think that these entities are sovereign and form the international order and international law. However, it was not always the case and it might change in the near future. Cities were more powerful in the European and Mediterranean history and they may be able to increase their relevance again. The European Commission published a report about the future of cities last year. Its executive summ

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Constitutional Discourse

Mar 19, 2021
8 min

Barnabás LENKOVICS: The Invisible Constitution: Between Power, Law and Interpretation

The invisible constitution is actually ‘invisible power’. Ever since the constitution is an immanent part of the legal system, the Constitution is law. It is a ‘power tool’, an instrument of power. The essence of power is the domination of will: the power can force its will on others, and those who exercise power on others. There are branches of power in order not to concentrate too much and too great a power in the hands of one man (say an otherwise enlightened but absolutis

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Constitutional Discourse

Mar 17, 2021
11 min

Károly GERGELY: Forgotten Differentiation

An Inquiry into the Informal Differentiated Integration Introduction The concept of differentiated integration (DI) has a history of over 70 years and since its appearance in the 1950s, an immense number of definitions attempted to pinpoint what exactly this expression refers to.[1] In the case of DI, even though definitions are countless (one study enumerated at least 30 conceptual models of DI)[2], the majority of academic literature has agreed on broadly defining it as ‘as

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Constitutional Discourse

Mar 15, 2021
10 min

Balázs SZABÓ: COVID-19: Introduction to the administration law competences problem-set

The COVID-19 pandemic quickly consumed the whole world, so the European Union – as a global player – and the Member States – as sovereigns – had to take immediate action to protect their citizens and their role in the geopolitics and global economy. The pandemic management revealed some previously hidden or partial questions regarding the share of competences between the EU and the Member States. I assume everyone agrees that both the citizens' lives and the economy shall be

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Constitutional Discourse

Mar 10, 2021
9 min

Balázs TÁRNOK: Widening the gap between the EU and its citizens

On the European Commission’s decision rejecting the Minority SafePack Initiative The respect for the rights of persons belonging to minorities has been a declared fundamental value of the EU since the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, however, in practice it does not have a significant impact. The current legal framework lacks specific and enforceable provisions on the protection of national minorities, and thus, cannot be adequately employed for such purposes. The la

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Constitutional Discourse

Mar 8, 2021
8 min

Márton SULYOK: “How to tackle IT?”

On the “state-big tech” debate in social media regulation The title wishes to sum up the literal ‘it-debate’ (the IT-debate, if you will) of the century. Many international events starting up the new year provided inspiration for the below discussion of some of the legal and policy issues in this domain. Let’s start in Hungary, where an end-of-January session of the so-called Digital Freedom Committee discussed unlawful practices of big IT companies, often also referred to as

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