Latest blog articles

  • On 10 October 2022 MEP René Repasi lodged an action for annulment against the complementary taxonomy delegated regulation 2022/1214. The same regulation is also challenged by Austria, a privileged applicant under Article 263 TFEU. As a result, the General Court will in any event be required to...

  • Questions surrounding how the EU budget is spent or audited have been, and will always be, of interest to EU citizens. Formally, the responsibility for the implementation of the budget rests with the Commission, but it is well known that the Member States have a crucial role to play, especially in...

  • What is the perspective of several countries on punitive damages in and outside of Europe? What issues arise from the recognition and enforcement of foreign (mostly US) punitive damages judgments? How do different countries view the public policy exception?

    These questions and more were among the...

  • On 4 March 2021, Italy decided to block a shipment of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine that was destined for Australia. This remarkable move, notably made in response to AstraZeneca’s delay in providing the agreed doses of vaccines by the set deadlines, is the first of its kind since the...

  • 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...

  • Rethinking how we make our value judgments, not just by asking a litany of “why questions”, but through a more systematic process – as advocated by Hage – enables us to debate with one another at a much deeper level, rather than settling for a superficial conversation based on our (sometimes flawed)...

  • 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...

  • After spending the past holidays with Suppo, his girlfriend Pia (yes, I was the awkward 3rd wheel), and his family in Sicily, I couldn’t help to notice a couple of differences between Italy (Sicily to be exact) and good old the Netherlands. Little note in advance, this piece covers Sicily and...