Latest blog articles
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On 30 May 2024, the Council of the European Union announced its final approval of the Union’s long anticipated withdrawal from what can fairly be labelled as the most controversial international treaty ever, the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT).
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Last year’s COP28 has resulted in a ‘historic’ mention of fossil fuels in its final decision, be it in a rather limited way. Where does the EU, the forerunner in climate action, stand when it comes to the elimination of fossil fuels? This post highlights a few problematic features of the EU’s policy...
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Last September, the European Commission adopted a proposal for a Directive on European cross-border associations (COM(2023) 516 final). “The proposal aims to improve … the conditions for establishing and operating European cross-border associations (ECBAs)”. According to the Commission, the current...
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The horrendous military activities of Russia in Ukraine have caused a severe backlash from tech giants. YouTube clamped down on Kremlin-backed channels for spreading war propaganda. Meta allowed its users to wish death to Russian armed forces. On top of that, Twitter is constantly policing tweets by...
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24 February marked a turning point in modern history: Russia barbarously attacked Ukraine. Apart from other drastic implications, including the expulsion of Russia from the Council of Europe, the war set off a new wave of political repression within a country.
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Not out of possibility, but out of necessity
The last couple of weeks of 2021 were dominated by the cross-border nature of the COVID-19 crisis, and the fight against it. While the Netherlands went into the holiday season under a lockdown, complete closures were largely absent in Germany and...
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Telegram is a powerful tool for end-to-end encrypted communication and one of the most popular messenger apps in Russia. However, one aspect often evades public attention: Telegram is swamped with bots which gather and disseminate personal data.
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The Digital Services Act (‘DSA’) is part of the long-awaited package aimed at providing a transparency and accountability framework for online platforms and laying down additional duties for large providers with gatekeeping powers. There is surely a lot to unpack in this hefty proposal. This piece...
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During the corona crisis, national measures in the three countries on the Limburg borders are not coordinated equally well. As a result, there is currently a situation in the border region where certain border entrepreneurs fall between the cracks, such as in the Dutch newspaper NRC on April 2nd ("E...
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During the Easter weekend there was a lack of clarity about what the rules are at the German-Dutch border. What is actually still allowed when it comes to travelling from the Netherlands to Germany and vice versa? Both the government in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and in the Netherlands have...