Latest blog articles

  • SMECC stands for School, Minimum standard, Education, Child-friendly policy and care-Continuum. Imagine SMECC as a flat drawing of a house. The regulatory backstop is the minimum standard in family litigation for competent parenthood – far on the horizon, however, a necessary fundament of human...

  • The statutory pension of civil cervants in Belgium is on de verge of a reform. The legislative proposal ‘mixed pension’ will soon be introduced by law, after being the centre of intense debate for nearly a year. What exactly does ‘mixed pension’ mean?

  • Mobility and good public transport prove to be essential requirements for an attractive (border) region. Establishes ITEM-PhD candidate Julia Reinold in an interview with EurekaRail.

  • Union citizens have the right to be accompanied by their ‘spouse’ when exercising their mobility rights. But what if your spouse is denied right of residence because the destination Member State does not recognise your marriage?

  • After more than seventy years of the trials in Neurenberg and Tokio, and more than twenty years since the set up of the ad hoc-tribunals for former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, we wonder wether something is wrong with the International Criminal Court? (Dutch only)

  • ‘Follow your heart.’ Anyone who faces an important choice, will undoubtedly hear this advice at times. Trust your gut feeling and everything will be all right. However, very often our intuition is wrong.  (Dutch only) 

  • Asylum seekers usually do not cross borders with a bag of documents. They have lost their personal belongings or have been confiscated by smugglers. Oral statements are therefore the only proof of origin. (Dutch only) 

  • Last month the Council of Ministers debated in its meeting of 16 May 2017 the rule of law situation in Poland. It was the first time that the EU ministers discussed the rule of law in a Member State. 

  • In his written answers to the European Parliament as well as orally during the hearing to establish his suitability to become first Vice-President of the European Commission, Commissioner Designate Frans Timmermans promises to ensure a common-sense test for all future legislation. I offer some legal...

  • It was even featured on Dutch television: the State of the Union by Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission on 14 September 2016... This blog is only available in Dutch.