Latest blog articles

  • 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...

  • When Germany opened its borders for 1 million refugees, Australia allowed 12 000 asylum seekers into the country. This is just a fraction compared to Merkel´s quota, especially when we look at the size and population. With 22 million inhabitants and a land of the size of North America, you would...

  • Two prominent issues on the agenda of European equality lawyers have so far largely (although see recently CJ C-83/14 Nikolova) remained outside scrutiny of the Court of Justice of the European Union: discrimination on grounds of religion or belief and segregation of Roma. Recent developments may...

  • The Nikolova case (C-83/14), currently pending before the Court of Justice (CoJ), constitutes an interesting and unique example of a practice alleged to have discriminatory effects on a large group of persons defined by reference to their Roma ethnic origin. The case sheds light on the role that EU...

  • The European Commission, on behalf of the European Union (EU), monitors and checks on the transposition of EU legislation by Member States. Member States often have to report on the steps they have taken to comply with specific EU legislation and the Commission even occasionally initiates...

  • Last November the Court of Justice ruled in Dano   that EU member states may exclude from entitlement to social assistance nationals of other member states who have arrived in their territory and who have no intentions of finding a job. While the ruling and the Court’s reasoning has triggered much...

  • The senseless killings and horrific attack on a newspaper and on a shop. Of course these terrorist attacks are violations of the right to life and the freedom of expression and therefore on our democratic societies. The perpetrators wanted to instill fear and to create chaos and undo our precious...

  • So a couple of weeks ago I came back from my semester abroad. Never in my life have I been this happy about returning to Europe, and I didn’t think I would ever qualify as a person that wanted to leave their exchange destination. Especially when said destination is San Diego, CA.

  • The Maastricht Syndrome describes a lasting, location-dependent sexual low which is supposedly caused by external factors such as stress, work overload, lack of potential sex buddies or other turn-off forces linked to the environment. The Maastricht Syndrome is named after a town in Limburg in the...

  • One of the reasons I decided to study Psychology is the fact that it covers pretty interesting philosophical topics. The entire field is indoctrinated with apparent contradictions that are fundamental in order to explain our psyche. Great minds have tormented themselves on the quest to find the...