In the referendum on constitutional reform of the judiciary, Italians said “No, grazie.” BENEDETTA LOBINA explains what this means for Giorgia Meloni’s political power and how the result is ultimately a good sign for constitutional checks and balances. verfassungsblog.de/no-grazie/

🌱 Tuesday, 17th March: 'Interdisciplinary Research Methods in EU Law' with @gentilegiulia.bsky.social, @universityofessex.bsky.social & @marekdoppelpack.bsky.social, @thecitylawschool.bsky.social 🔗 www.citystgeorges.ac.uk/news-and-eve...

☕️ Let's talk about the EU #SocialContract and Digitisation. We are hosting a public debate on how technology is reshaping our rights and obligations in Europe. 🇪🇺 📅 Friday, 13 March 🕙 10:00 AM – 12:30 PM (CET) 📍 Online via Zoom Register here: essex-university.zoom.us/webinar/regi... #DigitalRights

How has #digitisation transformed the fundamental #rules, #actors, #governance, #values & #objectives of the #EU? How has the EU responded to the advances of #digitalpower? How should we (re)imagine the future of the EU as an organisation made of States, institutions, and people in the #digitalage?

The EPP has a long tradition of shielding its own against EU scrutiny on the rule of law. It long protected Orbán when Fidesz was still member of the EPP, and now it is blocking rule of law fact finding missions to Meloni‘s Italy, who has become an important EPP ally.

CJEU - text of the request for the court to rule on whether the latest attempt at EU accession to the ECHR is compatible with EU law eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-conten...

“The results show that generative AI systems themselves tend toward homogenization when used autonomously and repeatedly. They even suggest that AI systems are currently operating in this way by default” theconversation.com/ai-induced-c...

📢Publication alert 📢 : "Effective judicial protection in the CFSP after KS and KD", published open access in the Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Following the success of the inaugural edition, the second iteration of the short course 'Human Rights in the Digital Age', which I have the pleasure of leading, is now open for registration. www.essex.ac.uk/short-course...

1/ A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of interviewing Kai Zenner, Head of Office and Digital Policy Adviser for MEP Axel Voss in the European Parliament, and discussing the future of EU digital regulation as part of the EXPRESS2 EU Project's podcast 'Rethink the Deal'.

NEW The good, the bad and the ugly of ‘rebalancing’ the ECHR Human rights law should be kept under review, but that does not mean it should be weakened My latest post for @prospectmagazine.co.uk www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/law/th...

Fundamental rights are under attack worldwide. ⏰ The question is no longer if democracy must be defended – but how. In the US, across Europe, in Germany. Our answer: Build knowledge. Share it widely. Join our mission with a donation: verfassungsblog.de/support-us/ Why we need your support 🧵👇

Good to see @europarl.europa.eu refer to principle of solidarity in its resolution on Hungary calling for triggering of Art. 7(2) TEU. With @dimitrispieker.bsky.social and Ulrich Karpenstein, we argued that new Art. 7 procedure should be initiated against HU based on breaches of solidarity in CFSP

New issue of the Journal of Comparative Law (20:2) contains autobiographical essays of comparatists ("comparative lawyers"), including yours truly. Below you can see my essay's last page with some thoughts on the field and its future.

new paper by Sean Westwood: With current technology, it is impossible to tell whether survey respondents are real or bots. Among other things, makes it easy for bad actors to manipulate outcomes. No good news here for the future of online-based survey research

"I thought that if I worked hard, I'd have a good life." 💔 #GenZ’s reality: low wages, few jobs. Anna (24) says the system feels broken. What's your solution for a fairer future? Take the survey now: form.typeform.com/to/wdi3KniL #SocialContract #FutureOfEurope #RethinkTheDeal

Today we commemorate Georges Friedmann, who died on this day in 1977. A French sociologist and philosopher, Friedmann was among the first to study technology as a social and philosophical problem in the 20th century. 1/

The European Commission uses ChatGPT outputs in public documents. @iccl.bsky.social has filed a complaint to the European Ombudsman as this use likely violates Commission's own guidelines and its obligation under EU treaties www.iccl.ie/news/europea...

I spotted this on Mastodon and I find it horrible, not least for the speed with which this has happened.

Can mainstreaming of the far right help normalise undemocratic practices? @mlorimer.bsky.social & Matteo Cavallaro explore the case of Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy, showing how the party still displays elements of continuity with its neofascist predecessor. Read OPEN ACCESS: buff.ly/ElYnx4u

I rest my case re the use of AI and legal drafting...

Kuo on EU Emergency Constitutionalism Ming-Sung Kuo (University of Warwick - School of Law) has posted Born out of Crisis? 'Emergency Europe' and the Question of Intertemporal Conflict Management in Constitutional Governance (Leone Niglia (ed), Europe's New Frontiers: Law, Crisis, Governance,…

The woman who "invented" the Erasmus exchange programme, Sofia Corrado, formerly Professor of Adult Education at the University of Rome Tor Vergata, has died aged 91. She was affectionately known as "Mamma Erasmus."

How safe are UK research institutions from politicisation? Answer - not at all. A Reform government could do the worst of Trump2 in a couple of weeks. blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsoci...

'UK employer costs for the Skilled Worker visa are the second highest in absolute terms – after the USA – and the highest when adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP). Australia and Israel rank third and fourth, respectively'

'if we regulate AI, China will win!' Meanwhile, China:

Do you have a migration story you'd like to share? It’s a question we’ve asked over 7,000 people across the UK. Over the coming months we will be highlighting a few story discs using #MigrationStories. One story, out of thousands, that stayed with us was…

In honor of the 75th anniversary of the Turing test, I'm re-upping my short essay, "The Turing Test and our shifting conceptions of intelligence". www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

This is the social engineering the right wing get upset about right?

I AM NOTORIOUSLY BAD WITH EXCEL SPREADSHEETS AND EVEN I HAVE HIGHER ACCURACY THAN 57%

Trying to grow the UK AI sector by building data centers is like trying to grow the university sector by building paper factories.

EU data protection law New case: does GDPR provide for a collective lawsuit on behalf of 5 million Dutch Amazon account holders? curia.europa.eu/juris/showPd...

I love London so much. So much. Did you know that London has the lowest level of ethnic violence of any city of comparable size in the world? Multiculturalism has in fact worked here. They just don’t want it to be true because we happen to have a Muslim mayor.

A lovely tribute from Áras an Uachtaráin to mark Professor Conor Gearty's passing: president.ie/en/media-lib...

Watched 'Hostage' on Netflix... is it possibly inspired by the real story of the current UK PM/members of government?! That would at least give me an explanation for the list of ridiculous decisions and policies by the incumbent government...

This whole summer only one story has dominated our entire politics & it comes down to literally 30,000 people in hotels. Ridiculous. The government needs to get a GRIP it’s pathetic.

Trump is threatening tariffs on any country that enforces digital rules. But this isn’t just about trade, it’s about destabilizing Europe’s democracy. Alexandra Geese, a Member of the European Parliament, argues it’s time for Europe to wake up, enforce its tech laws and build digital autonomy.

“Despite everything I still believe that people are really good at heart" - Anne Frank

Algorithmic anti-culture war: I was passing controls at Gatwick and my bag was stopped for a search. I asked the security staff member what was the problem. He replied: "There are two books in the bag which are quite thick and the machine flagged them as suspicious items".

Want to study in Europe as a UK student? Since Brexit, it’s harder than ever. With visa fees and lost Erasmus+ funding, the barriers are piling up. Many simply can’t afford it. Read one student's personal account 👇

How to detect bulls%!t – the Carl Sagan way.

This is exactly what senior civil servants in multiple departments have told me They don't want it - they understand that it's a disaster for state capacity and makes them dependent on tech companies - but it's been forced on them by Number 10 and the Cabinet Office

Coming back to the office and finding that my office plant, Leafy, had a baby during my leave 🌿

Australian barrister Rishi Nathwani KC, took “full responsibility” for filing incorrect information, including fake cases, in submissions in the case of a teenager charged with murder. Always double-check cases and quotations if you use AI for legal research! www.nbcnews.com/world/austra...

ㅤ Fresco from The House of the Golden Bracelet, Pompeii ㅤ

Sunlit uplands update