Takis Tridimas

Economic Sanctions, Procedural Rights and Judicial Scrutiny: Post-Kadi Developments

The judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union in Kadi is of defining constitutional importance. The Court understood the EU Treaties (at the time, the EC Treaty) as establishing their own constitutional space, asserted the autonomy of EU law vis-a-vis international law and held that responses to emergencies should be handled through, rather than outside, the bounds of the EU Treaties. The judgment is predicated on liberal democratic ideals and views respect for legality as a sine qua non in times of emergency. This chapter seeks to discuss selected case law developments after Kadi. It focuses on the effect of invalidity of sanctions on third parties, issues pertaining to the validity and interpretation of Council Regulation 881/2002/EC, economic sanctions against nuclear proliferation and corresponding developments in the case law of the UK Supreme Court. It does not deal exhaustively with post-Kadi case law. Section I provides a brief introduction to the judgment in Kadi. Section II explores the effect of the ruling on third parties. Section III discusses a selection of recent case law of the Court of Justice and the General Court, and section IV explores in some detail the judgment of the UK Supreme Court in Jabar Ahmed.

Article 50: An Endgame without an End?

In the EU referendum of 23 June 2016, the majority of the British electorate voted in favour of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union. The vote is expected to trigger a process towards the withdrawal of the UK and has profound political, economic and legal implications. ‘Brexit’ marks a turning point in the modern history of Europe and, for the UK, is probably the greatest constitutional reversal since the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660. The legal issues arising from Brexit could be classified into four categories: the management of the withdrawal process; the future relationship between Britain and the EU; the implications of the withdrawal for the EU integration paradigm; and its implications for the UK legal system. The present contribution focuses on selective issues within the first category. It first provides some wider reflections on the implications of the referendum outcome and then deals with the EU aspects of the withdrawal process centring on Article 50.