Top 10 most read posts of the year

With the end of the year approaching, it is once again time to continue the fine tradition of listing the 10 most read posts of the year for the purpose of this concluding post of 2013. The numbers are as usual based on Google Analytics, and of course it should be warned that they are somewhat biased in favour of older posts which had more time to become popular. But let us have a look nonetheless…

1. Casting the net of fundamental rights protection: C-617/10 Åkerberg Fransson Laurens Ankersmit

2013 has been yet another year marked by important developments in EU fundamental rights law. It comes thus as no surprise that the most read post is Laurens’ discussion of this landmark decision on the scope of the Charter of Fundamental Rights.

2. On the Rocky Road to Accession: Final Draft of EU’s Accession Agreement to ECHR Approved Ciara Murphy

In a post again discussing fundamental rights, Ciara’s views on the new draft agreement for accession of the EU to the ECHR have raised quite some interest. Be ensured that we will also cover the opinion of the Court on the compatibility of the agreement with the Treaties…

3. At the Periphery of EU Citizenship: C-356/11 O, S and L Ciara Murphy

Don’t worry, Union citizenship has not left the building. In this post, Ciara examines a decision which seems at first view to follow up on case law such as Zambrano, McCarthy and Dereci – but finally ends up being more about interpreting the Family Reunification Directive in light of the fundamental right to family life. A line of case law certain to be continued!

4. Allianz and the Object-Effect Dichotomy in Article 101(1) TFEU: A Practical Solution Meets Not So Practical Competition Law Hans Vedder

Finally, some good reading for our competition law aficionados. Hans takes a close look at the Allianz decision, concluding that, unfortunately, the Court mixes the categories of object and effect in this case, causing confusion without need and potentially leading to ‘impractical competition law’.

5. National Parliaments Issue Yellow Card against the European Public Prosecutor’s Office Vanessa Franssen

Quite some eyebrows have probably been raised at the occasion of the yellow card a high number of national parliaments have issued because of their subsidiarity-based concerns over the Commission’s proposal to establish a European Public Prosecutor’s Office. Vanessa discusses the background to this important political event, setting out in more detail what the objections are mainly about.

6. The seal product cases (II): Case T-526/10 Inuit Tapriit Kanatami and others Laurens Ankersmit

The seal product cases have kept the European courts busy this year. In this first case, the General Court had to address claims that the EU lacked an appropriate legal basis for its regulation which restricted trade in seal products. Laurens leads us through the intricacies of this trade-and-animal-welfare case.

7. The seal product cases (III): CJEU confirms GC and AG analysis of the concept ‘regulatory act’ in article 263 TFEU Laurens Ankersmit

8. The seal products cases (I): The notion of ‘regulatory act’ according to AG Kokott Laurens Ankersmit

The new notion of a ‘regulatory act’ introduced by the Lisbon Treaty has also seen some first jurisprudential developments this year in the seal products cases. In these two posts, Laurens sets out and compares the reasoning of the General Court, AG Kokott and the CJEU as to how the problem of locus standi for non-privileged applicants in the framework of actions for annulment under Article 263 TFEU should be resolved in the future in light of the Treaty modifications.

9. Dutch Court asks Court of Justice to rule on the limits of verification of the sexual orientation of asylum seekers Louis Middelkoop

In this post on EU asylum law, Louis takes the occasion of a Dutch court referring this exact question to the CJEU to introduce us to the difficulties and pitfalls of verification of the sexual orientation of asylum seekers before national authorities. More on this topic certainly to follow once the Court’s decision will be handed down…

10. ‘If the legal orders don’t fit, you must acquit’: Kadi II and the Supremacy of the UN Charter Joris Larik

Perhaps THE saga of recent EU law has also seen an interesting final chapter this year. At the occasion of the Kadi II judgment, Joris asks in this post whether indeed finally Mr Kadi got away with murdering famous Article 103 of the UN Charter establishing the primacy of UN Charter obligations– and whether that is at all the relevant question to ask in this context.

With this colourful snapshot of EU law in 2013, let us all bring this year to a conclusion and go spend the holidays with the few things in life that are more important than EU law. On behalf of the editors, I would like to thank all our readers and contributors for their interest and their efforts. We have enjoyed this second year of the blog a lot and hope that you did, too. Stay tuned for more interesting developments next year.

Happy holidays and best wishes for 2014!