📣 Together with other watchdog organisations we have today issued a call to withdraw Aura Salla’s appointment as Digital Omnibus rapporteur.
Appointing a former Meta lobbyist to oversee the revision of digital regulations raises serious concerns regarding the undue influence of Big Tech.
🧵
How have lawyers, lobbyists & consultants reshaped regulation/public power in the EU? On March 2 @ 3PM, the Centre for Study of France & Francophone World @utoronto.ca hosts @lolaavril.bsky.social (CNRS/Sorbonne) for “Transforming the Regulatory State in Europe," Info/register!: tinyurl.com/3mkhk3f9
Weer laait er binnen de EU een ruzie op over het afslanken van de gehate Brusselse bureaucratie. “Maar tuin er vooral niet in”, waarschuwt Caroline de Gruyter. Dit gaat niet over regeldruk. “Wat hierachter zit, is een strijd om de macht.” buff.ly/g3gh231
Het kabinet Jetten is 'Starmerite' (reactionair-centristisch) tot op het bot, en speelt ook hier extreemrechts in de kaart.
Met één verschil: in het VK vormen de post-centristische Groenen toenemend een alternatief ter linkerzijde - hier zit GL in een centristische sterfhuisconstructie met de PvdA.
Na corona dacht iedereen - ikzelf ook - dat het neoliberalisme over zijn hoogtepunt heen was. Met deze coalitie zien we echter een nieuwe neoliberale golf. Het is een en al dereguleren en korten op de verzorgingsstaat. Voor @groene.nl schets ik de parallellen met de BV-Nederland-gedachte uit 1982.
Today, the European Parliament voted to put the Mercosur trade agreement to the European Court of Justice for review.
It was a politically momentous decision, very tight and carried by an unusual majority, so it is worth looking a bit deeper into it.
The volume "Depoliticisation before Neoliberalism" is now published by Palgrave Macmillan.
In an online book launch event on Feb. 20, 12 o'clock (CET), we will discuss the results with special guests Prof Willibald Steinmetz (Bielefeld) and Dr Ruben Ros (Utrecht). See below to register.
Jervis Forum Review 157: Roos on van Zon, Heralds of a Democratic Europe
The democratic legitimacy of the European Union (EU) and its predecessor, the European Community (EC), has long been a focal point of scholarship across history, the social sciences, law, and philosophy.[1] In many of these…
Een stuk van mij over Trump en Venezuela in het FD (@fd.nl): De grove schending van de soevereiniteit van Venezuela en arrestatie van Maduro is zonder precedent – zelfs in de geschiedenis van Amerikaanse interventies in Latijns-Amerika. fd.nl/opinie/15827...
De Raad van State fluit minister Femke Wiersma terug omdat haar stikstofdoelen botsen met Europese natuurwetten. Historicus Bart Stol legt uit waarom Nederland op weinig steun kan rekenen als het door EU-regels in de knel komt. ‘De Hollandse vrekkigheid schaadt de Nederlandse gunfactor in Europa.'
Really? I’d say that if anything, the decline of the Brussels effect is due to do with the EU’s lack of political will to wield its regulatory power and its open door policy to corporate lobbyists. Its still the largest consumer market, whatever an isolated downward line suggests
AI Guide for Managers – adopting and integrating AI in your work 2 I. Identifying work processes for AI integration AI is a welcome opportunity for Commission staff to become more effective and efficient in daily work processes, including new services that would not have been possible up to now. In encouraging its use, AI must be an instrument of support for staff and for human-centric policy making. Encourage active participation from your staff . Their involvement is essential in accurately identifying the specific needs that AI can support meeting (also see II)). High-Impact Areas for AI Utilisation You may already have a concrete use case – get in touch with the to take it forward. Or you are starting from scratch – check out the below table for concrete help: Work Process AI Benefits Tools/Applications Elaborating Briefings Faster, comprehensive first drafts of briefings (possibility to use SNC* data) First drafts of documents Faster first drafts (time-saving), AI tool as sparring partner for generating and checking ideas (possibility to use SNC* data) Brainstorming/ analysis Faster brainstorming (time-saving), AI tool as sparring partner for generating and checking ideas (possibility to use SNC* data) Minutes (Transcription) Accurate, time-saving transcription AI transcription tools (e.g. ) Preparing Background Notes Efficient generation of speaking points e.g. (possibility to use SNC* data) Summaries Quick, accurate summaries Summarisation tools (e.g. ) (possibility to use SNC* data) Policymaking Early-stage brainstorming for identifying/ substantiating potential policy problems; Explaining/summarising legislative initiatives; Analysing/summarising consultation activities (possibility to use SNC* data) *SNC: sensitive, non-classified data
Bringing the disruption to Brussels: The European Commission encourages its managers to draft policy-making documents with AI, including "explaining/summarising legislative initiatives". According to a newly released Commission document, this will "boost your team's productivity". 🫢
This graph is also infuriating. Just an isolated downward line, no context. And how does this prove a reduction in regulatory influence? EU is still largest global consumer market
This article treats the EU’s diminishing regulatory power as structural (and politically neutral) consequence of its shrinking share of global GDP.
It doesn't mention the corporate lobbyists and captured politicians that spent years trying to weaken it. very misleading.
Het Europa dat burgers beschermt tegen gif en uitbuiting dreigt te verdwijnen onder druk van door de (agro)industrie afgedwongen versimpeling van regels. wbs.nl/publicaties/...
Er is zoveel mis met moderne auto's, maar laat vooral fietsers een helmpje dragen.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HauQ...
1. Some good news at last. This week’s column is about the amazing thing a couple of us stumbled into three years ago, which we’ve now developed into a global research programme. It doesn’t change everything, of course, but it could help change quite a lot. + 🧵 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
"Het is een democratische absurditeit die we ondertussen bijna normaal zijn gaan vinden: een demissionaire regering die nauwelijks een zesde van de Tweede Kamer vertegenwoordigt, maar die wel doorgaat met beslissingen die diep ingrijpen in de toekomst van ons land. [..]"
www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2025/...
New issue dropped! Thanks to @sarahvahed.bsky.social @cgoanta.bsky.social @koenvanzon.bsky.social @whommes.bsky.social @historikarin.bsky.social @whommes.bsky.social @lolaavril.bsky.social and the others for some brilliant work.
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
‘As with climate change, the focus on consumers deflects scrutiny that should be directed towards industry. Not only do companies help establish false representations of consumer wastefulness, they are themselves waste creators on a gigantic scale.’
Brett Christophers:
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
A draft Omnibus regulation on Food and Feed reveals that the European Commission’s DG SANTE is attempting to deregulate all chemical #pesticides.
Read more here: www.pan-europe.info/press-releas...
🚨 Brussels, today 🚨Ursula! Stand up for Europe – not for Trump’s tech bros!
As the EU unveils its “Digital Omnibus” today, we're rolling out billboards calling on @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu to stop bending to US and Big Tech pressure and enforce our digital laws #StandUpUrsula✊
Another piece from the special issue on EU legal history 'from below' that is nicely coming about on first view: the story of Helen Marshall's unlikely (but major) contribution to EU law.
Het enge is: de minister komt lekker meekeuvelen. Die formatie gaat mij niet snel genoeg
... Maar helaas ook niet geheel verrassend. In 2021 schreef ik over de uitdaging van het reguleren van multinationals, met de Vredelingrichtlijn uit de jaren '80 als parallel. Conclusie toen: in de EU is niets besloten tot het besloten is.
consumers.sites.uu.nl/news/battleg...
Extreem zorgwekkend, gezien de dereguleringsgolf die er nog aan komt. De bescherming van alles wat kwetsbaar is moet wijken voor bedrijfswinsten...
The symposium is coming together nicely: Brigitte Leucht, Magnus Esmark and Mala Loth write the introduction cum manifest on bottom-up legal history. @koenvanzon.bsky.social @historikarin.bsky.social @whommes.bsky.social @lolaavril.bsky.social
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
“The Omnibus fails to meet the constitutional standards the EU’s own legal order demands”.
That’s the conclusion reached by legal opinion endorsed by 100+ academics warning the Parliament about this dangerous precedent.
Read the opinion 👇 #Omnibus #CSRD #CSDDD
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
