Sonia Morano-Foadi

The Caribbean Court of Justice and Legal Integration within CARICOM: Some Lessons from the European Community

CARICOM, established under the Treaty of Chaguaramas, in 1973, has since its inception suffered from the repeated failure of member states to implement at the national level decisions taken by the Heads of Government at the regional level. The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ,) which has been vested with a compulsory and exclusive jurisdiction to interpret and apply the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, is intended to bridge this implementation gap. This has aroused expectations that the CCJ will play a role similar to that played by the ECJ in promoting legal integration. However, it is important to recognise that the ECJ has functioned within a particular jurisdictional framework and has benefited from the contribution of a diverse range of actors within the wider European legal community. It cannot, therefore, be assumed that the CCJ will be able to replicate the role played by the ECJ. The aim of this article is, accordingly, to review the jurisdictional framework within which the CCJ will function; to explore how this is likely to affect its relationship with the wider legal community within CARICOM; and, finally, to consider how this will impact upon legal integration within the region generally.

Solidarity and responsibility: advancing humanitarian responses to EU migratory pressures

The principle of solidarity is embedded in the foundations of the European Union (EU) legal system and is integral to the very ethos that has made the Union possible. However, as Member States struggle with contemporary challenges such as high migration flows, terrorism and economic turmoil they have predominantly adopted individualist and protectionist strategies which undermine the character of the Union. Those strategies include, for instance, building walls and securitising internal borders.This contribution argues that solidarity is inextricably linked with responsibility. Solidarity gives rise to responsibility and is a desired consequence of responsibility. Thus, this work suggests that strengthening the binomial of solidarity/responsibility is the solution that will create effective practices in meeting the humanitarian needs of refugees and sharing burdens between Member States.The contribution analyses the EU’s commitment to solidarity/responsibility and calls for Member States to demonstrate their commitment. Three types of Member State solidarity/responsibility are identified: 1) towards refugees and migrants, 2) towards fellow countries and 3) towards the EU itself. The latter finds its legal foundation in the principle of ‘sincere cooperation’ as enshrined in Article 4 (3) TEU and constitutes a means of protecting collective interest and precluding unilateral Member State actions that might jeopardize the entire EU project.

EU Citizenship and Religious Liberty in an Enlarged Europe

This article intends to contribute to the theoretical debate on how EU citizenship could be regarded as a bundle of common European individual rights (and, to a lesser extent, obligations) and part of a democratic polity in which every citizen counts equally irrespectively of his/her religious belonging and faith. The EU perceives itself as a community based on shared values. Since there is no European people, nor a European polity, common values play a core role in European polity building. The question, however, is whether common values can be experienced by the EU citizens in daily life and to what extent there are common values in the EU Member States. These issues are explored using the non-discrimination principle on grounds of religion, as a litmus-test for the existence of common values within Europe.