Latest blog articles

  • The presidential refusal to appoint a minister in comparative perspective

    On 27 May 2018 Italy was thrown into a post-election political and constitutional turmoil when Italian President Sergio Mattarella refused to appoint the designated Minister of Economy and Finance, Paolo Savona, proposed by the Five Star Movement and the League. While not the first time that an...

    Italian President Sergio Mattarella at the European Parliament
  • Facebook’s data sharing practices under unfair competition law - longread

    This is a brief analysis of Facebook’s data sharing practices under unfair competition rules in the US and EU. A paper on this topic co-authored by myself and MEPLI research fellow Stephan Mulders will be available shortly, and it will be presented at the Amsterdam Privacy Conference in October 2018...

    Facebook website data sharing - Catalina
  • Reducing administrative burdens through joint action!

    Current developments in the area of cross-country joint audits could reduce administrative burdens and enhance legal certainty. But, what are joint audits? This contribution shortly elaborates on the concept and the current developments of joint audits that could facilitate a cross-country concept...

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  • The Western Balkans enlargement perspective

    With the painful experiences of new Member States breaching the rule of law and democracy principles inside the EU and no tailor-made remedy to punish and enforce EU values, the Commission suggests in its Western Balkans strategy that future accession treaties could provide for such a mechanism to...

    Montenegro-blog West Balkan_Maastricht Law Blogs
  • The basic income and human rights

    To speak of economic justice today is to speak of the basic income. A basic income can be defined as an unconditional cash payment to all persons who form part of a political community. As automation increases, there is fear that labor will be replaced by “robots”. The basic income seems to be a...

    Basic income blog - Faculty of Law Maastricht
  • Myth on looted art: what was stolen, remains stolen

    Van Vliet emphasises: looted art is legally very complex. “The cases are terribly complicated. To begin with, how do you find out what happened back then? It starts for example with research into the heirs: you have to ensure that you have access to all the wills and division of joint property (in...

    Lars van Vliet_Mythbusters blog on looted art
  • The Benefits of the Internationalisation of Higher Education

    The internationalisation of higher education (IoHE) relates to sensitive topics of public concern. Considering the ongoing debate in the Netherlands regarding the challenges related to the internationalisation of higher education, it is time to take a step back and remember the many benefits as...

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  • European budget and the national constitutional state

    In May 2018 the European Commission presented the plan of a new financial framework for 2021-2027. In which is stated that the European Commission, among other things, aims to make the subsidies which are given to the countries, conditional upon the level at which a member state complies with EU...

    EU budget_EU begroting _blog
  • UM signs charter for more equitable biomedical R&D

    Globally the majority of health-related R&D is invested in medicines with substantial guaranteed returns, yet what is missing is extensive R&D targeted at diseases overwhelmingly prevalent in developing countries. This threatens long-term availability of medicines and treatment options for these...

    UM signs Charter for more Equitable Biomedical R&D