Stuck Between Unity and Diversity
The role of the EU Charter in disputes concerning fundamental rights standards between the EU and Member States has been characterized by ambiguity ever since the Charter’s inception. As the EU deepens integration of Member States to effectively face the challenges ahead, I advocate for a pluralistic interpretation of Article 53 of the Charter that allows for a greater degree of accommodation of national particularities. In that way, one would reduce constitutional tensions and find that there may be unity in diversity after all.
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The Year of the Defense of Life, Liberty and Property
Following his inauguration on December 10, Argentina's President Javier Milei has pursued his governmental goal to reduce the size and expenses of the state and to deregulate productive activities by issuing Executive Order (DNU) 70/23, titled "Bases for the Reconstruction of the Argentine Republic." This executive order is unprecedented in Argentina's history for its ambitious scope, addressing a wide range of issues in a single directive. This blogpost maps some constitutional questions that arise with Milei’s choice of implementing his governmental agenda via Executive Order, including their status in Argentina’s constitutional system and available mechanisms for congressional and judicial control.
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Change for the Sake of Change
On 19 November 2023, Argentinian citizens voted in a run-off election between Sergio Massa, the current Minister of Economy, and Javier Milei, the libertarian candidate, to elect the president of the Republic for the next four years. With a difference of 11%, Milei, an anarcho-libertarian and anti-caste populist, won over the populist alternative of the Peronist apparatus. The result of the elections means that 40 years after the restoration of democracy, the extreme right has come back into power in Argentina. In this blog, we offer an explanation of Milei's electoral win and map how Argentina's constitutional institutions might help reign in some of his more radical proposals.
Continue reading >>The Costs of Mass Surveillance in Slovakia
Solving the dilemma of how much surveillance is needed to maintain security and not crossing the threshold of its excessive interference with rights is not easy. It is an ongoing process, also in Slovakia, influenced by many factors - the fight against terrorism, despite not being a prominent threat for the country, has been one of the major drivers of invasive state surveillance. When this happens in the context of weak institutions, it leads to the deterioration of democracy.
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Something Wicked This Way Comes
In den letzten 20 Jahren wurde eine Krise nach der anderen als Rechtfertigung für die Einrichtung eines umfassenden Überwachungsapparats angeführt. Währenddessen verloren Drittstaatsangehörige schrittweise ihrer Rechte auf Privatsphäre und Datenschutz, wodurch die Bewegung unschuldiger Personen in verdächtige, potenziell terroristische Aktivitäten umgewandelt wurde. Unter den wichtigsten Veränderungen im Informationsmanagement wird die Interoperabilität - die Fähigkeit von Informationssystemen, Daten auszutauschen - die tiefgreifendsten Auswirkungen auf das Recht auf Datenschutz haben und den "point of no return" markieren.
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Something Wicked This Way Comes
One crisis after another has been offered as a justification for the establishment of a comprehensive surveillance apparatus throughout the past 20 years, while third country nationals were gradually stripped of their rights to privacy and data protection, transforming the movement of innocent individuals into suspicious, potentially terrorist activities. Among the most significant changes in information management in the area of freedom, security and justice, interoperability – the ability of information systems to exchange data – will have the most profound effects on the right to data protection and as such marks the “point of no return”.
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