15 Colum. J. Eur. L. 349 (2009) Ingolf Pernice. Professor Dr. Dr. h.c., Chair for Public, International, and European Law of the Humboldt-University of Berlin, managing director of the Walter Hallstein Institute for European Constitutional Law (WHI) of the Humboldt-University of Berlin, senior visiting fellow at the Program on Law and Public Affairs (LAPA) and visiting professor at Princeton University. This is a more elaborate version of a lecture given at Columbia Law School, New York, on October 1, 2008. For years, the European Union has struggled with its structural and constitutional self-determination, searching for a sustainable balance between confederal […]

15 Colum. J. Eur. L. 409 (2009) Rachael Mulheron. Professor, Department of Law, Queen Mary University of London. Reform of collective redress has garnered significant momentum and engendered widespread debate in England and elsewhere in Europe, particularly since 2007. Several important statutory and reform initiatives, and case law developments, have occurred across European Member States, and at the EU level, during this period. While many legal and policy conundrums have arisen for discussion, perhaps the most important question hovering above the debates and consultations on the subject can be reduced to this: opt-in or opt-out? In this Article, the author […]

15 Colum. J. Eur. L. 455 (2009) Paulina Dejmek (Dr. iur). Member of the Legal Service of the European Commission. All opinions expressed are strictly personal and the usual disclaimers apply. The article and all websites referred to reflect the situation at the end of January 2009. Major developments until mid-March 2009 have also been accounted for. Have the Community legislators provided an appropriate regulatory response to the turmoil in the financial markets and what will the future entail in this regard? This article provides an overview of the main legislative initiatives relating to the internal market in financial services presented by the European Commission during 2008, […]

15 Colum. J. Eur. L. 477 (2009) Daphne Barak-Erez. Visiting Professor, Columbia Law School (Fall 2008); Professor of Law, Stewart and Judy Colton Chair of Law and Security, Faculty of Law, Tel-Aviv University. This Article discusses the practice of comparative law from an institutional perspective—rather than asking whether importing doctrines and concepts from foreign law is a desirable practice, it asks how they are imported, why, and by whom. In this context, it also calls for a more nuanced analysis of the controversy over the use of comparative law, since the forms and the implications of using comparative law change according to the institution involved in the practice. […]

15 Colum. J. Eur. L. 495 (2009) Tim Volkheimer. Columbia Law School/University College London, J.D./LL.B. expected 2010. Co-Head Articles Editor, Columbia Journal of European Law, Volume 16. I wish to thank Mathilde Cohen, Zachary L. Craft, and Abraham Shaw for their assistance in preparing this Note. This Note discusses the tension between nationally granted patents and the establishment of a European common market. Due to patents’ territorial application and their grant of monopoly-like rights to their holders, patents partition the market along nation state lines, thus conflicting with Article 28 EC (formerly Article 30 EC) on the free movement of goods within the European common market. This conflict […]

15 Colum. J. Eur. L. 511 (2009) Giacinto della Cananea. Ph.D., The European University Institute (Florence); Professor of Public Law and E.U. Law, University of Naples “Federico II.” In the first decisions concerning the anti-terrorism measures provided by the resolutions adopted by the Security Council of United Nations (UN), the Court of First Instance (CFI) of the European Union (EU) has clearly shown deference towards political choices adopted at the global level. Such decisions were based on two assumptions: that EU institutions had to comply with UN law and that the latter took precedence over all other treaties, including those protecting human rights, such as the European Convention on […]

15 Colum. J. Eur. L. 531 (2009) Peter Van Elsuwege. Assistant Professor, Ghent University (Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence). In its judgment in Commission v. Council (C-91/05), delivered on May 20, 2008, the European Court of Justice annulled Council Decision 2004/833/CFSP, Providing a European Union Contribution to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in the Framework of the Moratorium on Small Arms and Light Weapons. Based on Article 47 EU, the Court concluded that the contested Decision, which pursues objectives not only falling within Common Foreign and Security Policy but also Community development cooperation policy, should have been adopted under the EC Treaty and not the EU Treaty. […]

15 Colum. J. Eur. L. 561 (2009) reviewed by Brendon Fleming. Executive Editor, Columbia Journal of European Law. I. INTRODUCTION: A COMPREHENSIVE PRIMER AND EASY-TO-USE REFERENCE FOR U.S. PRACTITIONERS As the European Union grows in Member States, its importance as an entity unto itself on the world stage will also continue to grow. And as the global financial crisis strains the internal partnerships of the European Union, it is ever more important for American lawyers to understand it. This six-volume set, Administrative Law of the European Union, written and edited by some of the world’s foremost experts on EU and administrative law, facilitates that understanding. American lawyers whose practices […]

15 Colum. J. Eur. L. 343 (2009) reviewed by Gregory A. Odegaard. Editor-in-Chief, Columbia Journal of European Law. There are few topics that generate more interest in contemporary European scholarship than the development of a pan-European citizenship. In fact, the very existence of this special issue of  The Columbia Journal of European Law is evidence of the current activity in this rapidly evolving field. However, despite the large amount of attention being devoted to this area, it is, in fact, a very recent concern. As George Bermann pointedly asks at the outset of this special issue: “Who would have imagined […]

15 Colum. J. Eur. L. 321 (2009) Nathan Cambien M.Jur. University of Oxford; Ph. D. fellow of the Research Foundation-Flanders, Institute for European law, University of Leuven. The author wishes to thank Tim Corthaut for his valuable comments and suggestions. On July 25, 2008, the Court of Justice of the European Communities (“ECJ” or “Court”), sitting as the Grand Chamber, handed down its judgment inBlaise Baheten Metock and Others v. Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform[1],  a mere four months after receiving a request for a preliminary ruling from the High Court of Ireland. Metock and Others is a […]

15 Colum. J. Eur. L. 163 (2009) Dear Reader, In the fifteen years since our initial publication, The Columbia Journal of European Law has gone from strength to strength. At present, it is the most cited European law journal in North America, and one of the most cited in the world. Due to the tremendous number of submissions we receive and the logistical demands of a print publication, the editors have decided that a secondary outlet for contemporary research is appropriate. To this end, CJEL has launched an online supplement to complement the print Journal. Because of the space and […]

15 Colum. J. Eur. L. 165 (2009) George A. Bermann. Jean Monnet Professor of European Law and Walter Gellhorn Professor of Law, Columbia Law School. Who would have imagined even fifteen years ago that a notion of “EU citizenship” would come to occupy center-stage in the arena of EU legal developments and widely permeate fields of EU law to which citizenship at the EU level long appeared to have little to say? By contrast, Member State citizenship lay at the heart of things from the start, as rights and obligations alike seemed to turn, at least largely, on whether an […]

15 Colum. J. Eur. L. 169 (2009) Dimitry Kochenov LL.M. (CEU, Budapest), LL.D. (Groningen). Assistant Professor of European Law, Department of Corporate and European Law, and Fellow of the Graduate School of Law, University of Groningen. Oude Kijk in ‘t Jatstraat 26, 9712EK Groningen, The Netherlands. Parts of this article have been presented at the UACES annual conferences in Portsmouth (September 2007) and Edinburgh (September 2008), at a conference at the Birmingham School of Law (July 2008), and made the core of my Byrd Lecture at James Madison University (October 2008). I am grateful to Prof. Dr. Laurence W. Gormley, […]

15 Colum. J. Eur. L. 239 (2009) Marlene Wind. Associate Professor, University of Copenhagen. As a result of recent developments in the European Union, governments no longer have the exclusive authority to decide who can reside and work in their territories or who is eligible for the social provisions that have traditionally been reserved for their own nationals. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has recently interpreted Union citizenship to confer the benefits associated with EU free movement rights on all citizens of EU Member States. According to the ECJ, there is now so much “financial solidarity” between the EU […]

15 Colum. J. Eur. L. 265 (2009) Willem Maas. Jean Monnet Chair in European Integration and Associate Professor of Political Science and Public & International Affairs, Glendon College, York University. Grateful acknowledgements to Jenilee Ward for research assistance. In theory, citizenship denotes intrinsic status, signifying both full membership in the political community and a set of rights that adhere inherently and equally to all citizens. In practice, however, the rights of citizenship are variable and differentiated, and governments often approach citizenship not as a fundamental birthright or basic legal status but rather as a policy tool that is subject to […]

15 Colum. J. Eur. L. 281 (2009) Miriam Aziz. Associate Professor of Law, University of Siena, Italy. This contribution was presented as a seminar paper as part of Cornell Law School’s Berger Program in November 2007. In anticipation of this Special Issue on European Citizenship, the Editors of The Columbia Journal of European Law commissioned an Article from Professor Aziz. We asked her to reflect on her experience with the European project, specifically how the idea of citizenship has guided European development. Drawing from her own interactions with members of the Laeken Convention, as well as the experiences of others, […]

15 Colum. J. Eur. L. 299 (2009) Spencer Wolff. B.A., Harvard College (2002); M.A., Department of Comparative Literature, Yale University (2005); J.D., Columbia Law School and Master 2 in droit et globalisation économique, Sciences Po Paris (expected 2010). This Note analyzes Germany’s citizenship policies in the latter half of the Twentieth Century via four landmark verdicts of the German Federal Constitutional Court (FCC). Germany’s historical prohibition on dual-citizenship and its legislative commitment to the exclusive transmission of German citizenship by bloodline (jus sanguinis) have been interpreted as continued evidence of Germany’s fixation on an ethnocentric model of citizenship even in […]

15 Colum. J. Eur. L. 1 (2008 – 2009) Tony Joris. Jean Monnet Professor, Centre for European Law, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium. Jan Vandenberghe. Researcher, sponsored by the Fund for Scientific Research – Flanders, Centre for European Law, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium. In this article we analyze the relationship between the Council of Europe and the European Union. The starting point of this analysis is that the two organizations are natural partners, although their partnership is sometimes shaky and merits reform. First we give a brief overview of the origins and development of cooperation between the two organizations, focusing on […]

15 Colum. J. Eur. L. 43 (2008 – 2009) Edward S. Adams. Howard E. Buhse Professor of Finance and Law, Director of CLE Programs, and Co-Director of Kommerstad Center for Business Law and Entrepreneurship at the University of Minnesota Law School. J.D., University of Chicago Law School. M.B.A., Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. B.A., Knox College. Kate McKnight and Mark Creer provided invaluable assistance and support as research assistants for this Article. Jason K. Fincke. Honors Attorney, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Former clerk to Judge Joseph T. Carter, First Judicial District of Minnesota. J.D., cum laude, […]