AALS Annual Meeting Today: European Law Section Panel on "Current Developments in Rights Protection in the European Union"

Just a reminder for all network members attending the AALS Annual Meeting in San Francisco: The European Law Section's panel on Current Developments in Rights Protection in the European Union: Anti-Discrimination Measures, The Charter of Fundamental Rights, and the Refugee Crisis, will be held today at 8:30 am PST in Continental Parlor 7 at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square. Below is the panel description and the list of speakers.

* * *

Novel legislation adopted by the E.U. Council of Ministers in 2000 prohibits discrimination based on race or ethnic origin in all fields regulated by E.U. law, and prohibits discrimination in employment based on religion, age, disability, or sexual orientation. Panelists will discuss efforts to curb discrimination of the Roma people under E.U. rules and the European Convention on Human Rights, and Court judgments concerning compulsory retirement of university professors, judges, and prosecutors. Another panelist will discuss the efforts to maintain human rights protection while coping with the on-going refugee crisis. A guest European professor will discuss the impact of the U.K. referendum on withdrawal from the E.U. on the U.K. rules on residence of migrant nationals of other E.U. nations.  Papers from the program will be published in Fordham International Law Journal.  

Speakers:

Frank Emmert, Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law
Roger J. Goebel, Fordham University School of Law
Dr. Laurence Gormley, University of Groningen Faculty of Law
Katerina Linos, University of California, Berkeley School of Law
Julie C. Suk, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law

Different Union, Greater Unity: Reflections on a Semester of Debates at NYU on the EU’s Concurrent Crises

The EU is facing four concurrent crises that may call into question its very existence: the EMU, Brexit, refugees, and terrorism.  This semester, the Jean Monnet Center for International and Regional Economic Law & Justice at NYU School of Law has had the privilege of hosting a series of fascinating seminars on these traumatic circumstances. Georgette Lalis, Senior Emile Noel Fellow, and Samuel Dahan, Emile Noel Fellow, have forwarded us this overview of those debates along with some provocative reflections of their own on the path forward.

* * *

What has emerged from this semester's enriching debates at the Jean Monnet Center is that the EU is facing both circumstantial crises – the refugee and terrorism crises – but also, and more significantly, structural problems coming from within: Brexit and the EMU crisis.

The EMU crisis occurred as the result of the financial meltdown of 2008; but it is nevertheless an institutional crisis, predictable and indeed predicted, that resulted from flaws in the structure of the eurozone itself. While is it true that the EMU has succeeded in partially addressing these issues, the euro area is still faced with both an economic and a governance crisis. In a nutshell, the decision-making process in the euro area is unnecessarily complex, lacks transparency and democratic legitimacy, and calls into question the balance between Member States and European Institutions. We, the Emile Noel Fellows, are privileged to have the opportunity to conduct research on the legal aspects of the crisis and explore potential avenues of addressing the EMU’s flaws. Our research will eventually take the form of a Jean Monnet Working Paper.  

    While the Brexit crisis has very different causes from the EMU crisis, it is also a political deadlock that threatens the integrity of the EU as a whole. Brexit is the climax of a long and difficult British-European relationship in which the UK has always kept one foot outside the EU. A potential Brexit, let alone the threat it might represent to the integrity of the EU, would substantially change the nature of the UK’s membership in the EU (although the latter is already limited by important opt-outs.) From a reputational/formal standpoint, the departure of one of the EU’s strongest members would set a bad precedent and could trigger a domino effect, ultimately leading to deeper fractures in the Union. Much has been written on the economic effects of a Brexit for both the UK and the EU. It is clear to us, however, that a Brexit at this time would send a bad signal to the outside world concerning the cohesion of the EU. On Friday, February 12, former UK cabinet minister and Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls eloquently described the “backward relationship” between the UK and the EU in a discussion entitled "Brexit or Bremain? Britain’s Fraught Relationship with the EU.” While Balls made a strong argument in favor of ‘Bremain’, the outcome will only be known in June after the UK referendum.

As for the refugee and terrorism crises, while they clearly have an EU dimension, they are closely linked to outside factors and to national politics. Though public opinion often associates one with the other, it is important to emphasize that they have very different origins and implications. Both are the result of circumstantial/non-institutional pressures, and the juxtapositions between these two sets of crises leaves room for significant improvements in the situation through efficient coordination of national policies. Although the refugee and terrorism crises do not stem from European institutional flaws as such, they may well turn into an institutional nightmare if the Union doesn’t learn from its mistakes and mount a quick response to strengthen its immigration and security policy coordination.

Dan Kelemen on "Europe's Lousy Deal with Turkey"

Network member Dan Kelemen (Rutgers) has recently published an article in Foreign Affairs on "Europe's Lousy Deal with Turkey: Why the Refugee Arrangement Won't Work."  Co-authored with Megan Greene, the article criticizes the EU's "cynical bargain to turn Turkey into a buffer zone."  

The first paragraph follows: the full version can be found here (registration required).

* * *

On March 18, the leaders of the European Union reached a controversial deal with Turkey. That agreement, touted as a resolution to the refugee crisis, was in essence a cynical bargain to turn Turkey into a buffer zone. Turkey has agreed to act as a giant refugee holding center, keeping the millions of migrants fleeing conflict in the Middle East from reaching Europe and accepting those sent back from Greece. In exchange, the EU will pay Turkey three billion euros on top of the three billion pledged last November to help care for the refugees. It will also speed up the approval of visa-free travel to Europe for Turkish citizens and revive stalled negotiations over Turkey’s accession to the EU. The EU also agreed to settle a limited number of Syrian refugees—up to 72,000—directly from Turkey to Europe based on a crude “one-in, one-out” trade: for every Syrian smuggled to Greece but returned to Turkey, the EU will legally resettle one Syrian directly from Turkey to a European country. Finally, European leaders promised that once the flood of migration has abated they will implement a “voluntary humanitarian admission scheme,” a vaguely conceived program under which a coalition of willing member states could volunteer to resettle additional refugees.

The article continues here.

Jan-Werner Müller in "Foreign Policy": on Angela Merkel and the "decisive moment ... not just for the EU, but also for Christian Democracy"

Network member Jan-Werner Müller (Princeton) has published a new piece in Foreign Policy entitled "Angela Merkel’s Misunderstood Christian Mission".  The opening paragraphs are below and the remainder of the article can be found here.

* * *

Angela Merkel is in the curious position of having become one of Europe’s moral leaders without ever clearly articulating the real moral dimensions of her decisions. Her emphatic “We can do this” (Wir schaffen das) in response to the arrival in Germany of hundreds of thousands of asylum-seekers has attained the status of a sort of proverb in that country. But she has never otherwise been one for rousing speeches that set out political visions. The sordid details of the deal that she helped seal on Friday with an increasingly repressive Turkey to help control the flow of migrants to the continent has also done little to burnish her reputation as a moral visionary.

But Merkel’s negotiations with Turkey can only be properly considered in the context of the broader moral campaign that she has been waging. It has not always been easy to perceive the distinctly religious aspect of her political agenda, but that does not mean it hasn’t been there. Like few others on the continent, Merkel seems to understand this is a decisive moment not just for Germany, and for the EU, but also for Christian Democracy, one of Europe’s leading governing ideologies of the post-war era.

[continue reading here]

Reminder: "Human Rights at the Margins: The Refugee Crisis and Other Emergencies in a Transatlantic Perspective" (Saturday, Jan. 9, 8:30 am, AALS Annual Meeting, New York City)

Just a reminder to all network members attending the AALS Annual Meeting this week in New York: the European Law Section of the AALS will host a panel on "Human Rights at the Margins: The Refugee Crisis and Other Emergencies in a Transatlantic Perspective," which will take place on Saturday, January 9, 2016, from 8:30-10:15 am (room location in the conference program).  More details on the panel are below.  

* * *

Human Rights at the Margins:

The Refugee Crisis and Other Emergencies in a Transatlantic Perspective

Saturday, January 9, 2016, 8:30-10:15 am

Moderated by Section Chair Daniela Caruso (BU), the panel will include Iris Goldner Lang (Zagreb), Daniel Halberstam (Michigan), Steve Peers (Essex), and Gráinne de Búrca (NYU) (discussant).

The refugee crisis in the Mediterranean has been rightly identified as the most serious legal and political challenge currently facing Europe. The crisis calls into question the legal architecture of the Euorpean Union and tests the limits of policy coordination among the Member States. It calls as well for a reassessment of human rights and classical immigration law as frames for handling structural predicaments in the Global South. The purpose of this panel, co-sponsored by the AALS Sections on International Human Rights and International Law, is to engage US and EU legal scholars in a discussion of ongoing legal responses to the Mediterranean crisis and similar emergencies, with the goal of identifying limitations and possibilities in federal, supranational, or international entities called to the rescue of the lost at sea.

* * *

In addition, there will be a section business meeting following the panel, as well as a section lunch at 12:30 pm (RSVP by Tuesday, January 5, to Daniela Caruso, who can provide further details).  On the agenda of the business meeting will be the appointment of new Executive Committee members, the selection of a topic for next year’s program, and a discussion of blog-based initiatives.  The section lunch will follow the panel on "Comparative Perspectives on Privacy Law," co-organized by the Section on Comparative Law and the Section on Defamation and Privacy Law, which section members may also wish to attend.  

Annual Newsletter of the European Law Section of the AALS

We are pleased forward the annual newsletter of the European Law Section of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS).  Most importantly, it includes information about the section's program on "Human Rights at the Margins: The Refugee Crisis and Other Emergencies in a Transatlantic Perspective," which will take place on Saturday, January 9, 2016, at the AALS Annual Meeting in New York.  More details on the full annual meeting can be found here.  A full breakout posting on the section program at the annual meeting will follow soon.

* * *

President Michael Higgins of Ireland on the State of the (European) Union

A few weeks ago, President Michael D. Higgins of Ireland visited NYU to give the Eleventh Annual Emile Noël Lecture on the State of the (European) Union, sponsored by the Jean Monnet Center for International and Regional Economic Law & Justice at NYU.  Network member Gráinne de Búrca (NYU), Director of the Jean Monnet Center, introduced President Higgins and acted as discussant at the event, which drew a capacity crowd.  We are pleased to share the following summary, prepared by friend of the network Johann Justus Vasel (Visiting Researcher at NYU).

* * *

The European Union – Towards a Discourse of Reconnection, Renewal and Hope

The Eleventh Annual Emile Noël Lecture on the State of the (European) Union

presented by

His Excellency, the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins

On Monday September 28, 2015, His Excellency Michael D. Higgins, President of Ireland, honored the NYU School of Law by delivering the Eleventh Annual Emile Noël Lecture on the State of the (European) Union (full text available here; video available here). The Annual Emile Noël Lecture is sponsored by the Jean Monnet Center for International and Regional Economic Law & Justice. 

Following opening remarks by Dean Trevor Morrison and an introduction by Professor Gráinne de Búrca, His Excellency gave a vivid, bold, and inspiring address entitled “The European Union – Towards a Discourse of Reconnection, Renewal and Hope.” The President took as his subject the current legitimacy crisis facing the European Union. In a rich and powerfully argued presentation, he offered and elaborated the vision that this crisis must be recognized as a consequence and symptom of an inadequate worldview that has taken root among policymakers and politicians: a worldview grounded on assumptions that are grossly inadequate for the tasks facing the Union today. 

Jan-Werner Müller in the New York Review of Books Daily on Hungary's "Viktator"

Network member Jan-Werner Müller (Princeton) has a new piece out in the New York Review of Books Daily.  Entitled "Hungary: 'Sorry About Our Prime Minister,'" the article focuses on Hungary's controversial Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, and his handling of the European refugee crisis.  Jan-Werner's provocative and powerfully written piece argues that Orbán's conduct, policies, and posturing represent nothing short of an effort to start a "pan-European culture war," posing a challenge to "the moral core of the European project."  The first paragraph follows; the full article is available here.

* * * 

Visitors to Budapest this past July were greeted by large billboards, sponsored by an opposition group, saying: “Sorry about our prime minister.” A few weeks later, ugly images from Hungary began circulating around the world: Hungarian prison laborers, soldiers, and jobless men in workfare programs all mobilized to build a razor-wire fence at the border with Serbia in record time; Syrian families prevented from boarding carriages at Budapest train stations; police firing tear gas on refugees trying to cross the border from Serbia; government leaders warning of a “United European Caliphate” if the Muslim masses aren’t stopped in time. Yet the prime minister, Viktor Orbán, clearly thinks there’s no reason for him to be sorry, let alone for Hungarians to feel ashamed of him. He gleefully points out that he is merely applying European rules that require him to secure the EU’s external borders. And in Brussels and at the UN, he has been shopping around his proposal to close Europe and send refugees elsewhere—what he calls a system of “global quotas.”

2016 AALS Annual Meeting: European Law Section program announced

Network member Daniela Caruso (BU) has announced the program for the AALS European Law Section at the 2016 AALS Annual Meeting in New York City (January 6-10, 2016).  The European Law Section program will take place on January 9, 2016, and will feature network members Gráinne de Búrca (NYU), Daniela Caruso (BU), and Daniel Halberstam (Michigan), as well as Steve Peers (Essex).  The program is summarized below.

* * *

Program Title: Human Rights at the Margins: The Refugee Crisis and Other Emergencies in a Transatlantic Perspective

Date: Saturday January 9, 2016

Time: 8:30am-10:15am

Program Summary: The refugee crisis in the Mediterranean has been rightly identified as the most serious legal and political challenge currently facing Europe. The crisis calls into question the legal architecture of the European Union and tests the limits of policy coordination among the member states. It calls as well for a reassessment of human rights and classical immigration law as frames for handling structural predicaments in the Global South. The purpose of this panel, co-sponsored by the AALS Sections on International Human Rights and International Law, is to engage US and EU legal scholars in a discussion of ongoing legal responses to the Mediterranean crisis and similar emergencies, with the goal of pointing at limitations and possibilities in federal, supranational or international entities called to the rescue of the lost at sea. 

Panelists: Steve Peers, Essex University School of Law (UK); Daniel Halberstam, University of Michigan; Gráinne de Búrca, New York University (Discussant); Daniela Caruso, Boston University (Chair).

Kim Scheppele and Dan Kelemen with More Insights on Hungary and the Refugee Crisis (in Politico and the Washington Post)

Network members Kim Lane Scheppele (Princeton) and Dan Kelemen (Rutgers) each have published new articles on Hungary and the refugee crisis that may be of interest to readers.  Kim's piece is entitled "Orbán’s police state: Hungary’s crackdown on refugees is shredding the values of democracy," and appeared in Politico.eu. Dan's piece is entitled "The migrant crisis is exposing Hungary’s slide toward autocracy. Here’s why the E.U. hasn’t cracked down," and appeared on the Monkey Cage in the Washington Post.  Check them out.

Jan-Werner Müller in The Guardian: "Leading Writers Respond to the Refugee Crisis"

Network member Jan-Werner Müller (Princeton) joins Ali Smith, Mary Beard, Orhan Pamuk and Pankaj Mishra and others in The Guardian as part of a feature, "The turmoil of today's world: leading writers respond to the refugee crisis." The first paragraph of Jan's contribution is below, and the remainder of his and other contributions can be found here.

* * *

This week, European commission president Jean-Claude Juncker lamented that the EU urgently needed both more Europe and more Union. This sounds like desperate pleading from the head of an institution that has been systematically weakened in recent years, with member state governments – above all, Germany – in the driver’s seat of the EU. But Juncker happens to be right. Both the euro-crisis and the “refugee crisis” have demonstrated that an EU in which nation-states constantly break rules and haggle about who bears the costs of failed policies is bound to lose legitimacy in the eyes of its citizens. The consequences for ordinary people are all too visible: from the suicides of austerity’s victims in Athens to the desperation of asylum seekers in Budapest. [continue reading here]