“[…] How many years must some people exist Before they’re allowed to be free? And how many times can a man turn his head And pretend that he just doesn’t see? […] How many ears must one person have Before he can hear people cry? And how many deaths will it take ’till he knows…
Image credit: Michal Pech/Unsplash *Il presente contributo è stato pubblicato anche su https://lospiegone.com/2019/12/01/in-lobby-with-eu-il-caso-dei-combustibili-fossili/. Il nostro percorso d’inchiesta sulle attività di lobbying all’interno delle istituzioni europee si arricchisce con un focus sugli incentivi al settore dei combustibili fossili. L’Unione europea è sicuramente all’avanguardia in termini di politiche di sostenibilità ambientale. In base a quanto sancito dal…
Article 5 prohibits three crimes: 1. slavery and servitude; 2. forced or compulsory labour and 3. trafficking in human beings. We like to link all three to the past or at least to continents far from Europe. However, we would be wrong in doing so! In the years 2015 and 2016 twenty thousand five hundred…
Have you ever witnessed “a return flight”? I did, last week. Not a happy experience. I was sat in seat 25A. A person sitting in the last row kept screaming “Jesus, help, help me, I am not an animal”. It took a while till I understood: the lady from Nigeria was being escorted by three…
Human beings are like antique amphorae. Each one is unique. Each one should be handled with care. Violence leaves eternal marks and irrevocable damage. An amphora´s internal and external dimensions cannot be isolated from each other. This is why Article 3 of the Charter not only protects the physical, but also the “mental integrity” of…
Top European Court says that not labelling products originating from Israeli settlements could mislead consumers about Israel being a “sovereign entity” in the Palestinian territories. On 12 November 2019, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that products originating from Israeli settlements must be labelled as such, considering that the omission of this indication is…
*This article was adapted from https://italicsmag.com/2020/01/08/europe-2020-is-italy-on-the-right-track/ Despite a world in turmoil, everyone has got good intentions for 2020, even the European Union. As a matter of fact, the EU made its own plans for 2020 a decade ago and called it “Europe 2020”. The Europe 2020 strategy is the EU’s agenda for growth and jobs…
“Everyone has the right to life” and “No one shall be condemned to the death penalty, or executed.” This is what Article 2 of the Charter tells us. We tend to associate the right to life with extremes: On the one hand, with capital punishment or excessive police violence in semi-dictatorial regimes and, on the…
When, on 1 May 2004, Poland, together with other nine countries, joined the European Union, in the biggest accession process thus far, no one or very few would have contemplated the possibility that the gravest challenge to the Rule of Law in Europe would have originated from Poland itself. In the last four years, Poland…
Can a legal text impress by its beauty? Yes, it can. Have a try: “Human dignity is inviolable. It must be respected and protected”. [1] This shortest of all rights in the EU Charter of fundamental rights, is the first one of over fifty others. It describes what makes us humans and points – in …
