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In ECtHR Chamber judgment in the case of M.P. v. Portugal (application no. 27516/14) the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been no violation of Article 8 (right to respect for private life and for correspondence) of the European Convention on Human Rights.  The case concerned an applicant who complained about the fact that her former husband had not been punished in criminal proceedings by the Portuguese courts for having accessed emails that she had exchanged on a casual dating site and for submitting them in evidence in civil proceedings for shared parental responsibility and divorce proceedings, initiated by him before the Portuguese courts.  It had ultimately been the Spanish courts, to which the applicant had applied first (and not the Portuguese courts, to which her husband had subsequently applied), which ruled on the divorce and granted residence rights to the mother, with access rights for the husband.  The Court found, among other ...

The European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Union's bank, is seeking to recruit for its Legal Directorate (JU) – Legal Department, Corporate (CORP) – Institutional, Corporate and Litigation Division (ICL) at its headquarters in Luxembourg, a (Associate) Institutional Lawyer - Specialised in European Union Law. This is a full time position at grade 4/5. The term of this contract will be 4 years. Panel interviews are anticipated for 2nd half of November The EIB offers fixed-term contracts of up to a maximum of 6 years, according to business needs, with a possibility to convert to a permanent contract, subject to organisational requirements and individual performance. Purpose As an (Associate) Institutional Lawyer, internally referred to as (Associate) Officer Legal Services, you will contribute to the work of the ICL division by advising on legal questions in the areas of Institutional and European Union law, drafting relevant legal instruments and/or other d...

By Effie Giannakouri, Attorney-at-law, MBA The lawyer, the politician, the teacher, the businessman, the scientist, the mother; we all, to varying degrees, need to communicate and inspire others with our words. We all know that speaking in front of others, arguing constructively and effectively, and expressing a point of view in a simple discussion are critical modern skills. The sheer breadth and momentum of technological development in the last Demi century, the unpredicted and unprecedented Covid19 pandemic crisis, have revolutionised how we communicate, but while our messages can be heard faster and by a  larger audience the quality of that message has deteriorated. With technological advancement comes passivity and reliance. With a move from letter writing, reading and note taking comes a loss of institutional memory on the value of those skills. The preservation and investment of speech and oral communication is a priority  in maintaining and advancing human developm...

In May 2021, the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) Criminal Law Committee met Marco Stefan, one of the authors of the Report on “Criminal Justice, Fundamental Rights, and the Rule of law in the Digital Age”, who presented the report with respect to the Rights of the Defence.  The CCBE was delighted to have the possibility to contribute to the report, which focused on addressing questions related to:  • The deployment of remote justice technologies, in particular the use of videoconferencing and remote legal assistance and interviews in judicial proceedings.  • Ongoing initiatives promoting the use of technologies in EU and national justice systems, with a special focus on the digitalisation of judicial files and electronic exchange of procedural documents, as well as the introduction of new procedures for the collection and exchange of data in cross-border judicial proceedings, and the creation of new tools promoting the interoperability of platforms...

In its Judgment dated 2.9.2021 in Case C-932/19 (OTP Jelzálogbank and Others) the European Court of Justice ruled that Hungarian legislation which prohibits the annulment of a loan agreement denominated in a foreign currency on the ground that it contains an unfair term relating to the exchange difference appears to be compatible with EU law.   This is the case if that legislation makes it possible to re-establish the legal and factual situation which would have existed for the consumer in the absence of the unfair term, even if the annulment of the agreement would be more advantageous for the consumer. In 2007, a consumer concluded loan agreements denominated in a foreign currency with Hungarian banks belonging to the OTP Group. In the context of disputes relating to those agreements, the consumer claimed that the agreements were void, pleading the unfairness of the terms stipulating that the exchange rate applicable at the time of the release of the loaned funds, which correspond...

The latest  case-by-case decisions  on the implementation of judgments and decisions from the European Court of Human Rights have been published by the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers. The Committee adopted 44 decisions concerning 20 member states during the meeting, including three Interim Resolutions [1] on the  S.C. Polyinvest S.R.L. and Others v. Romania  case, the  Cyprus v. Turkey  case and the  Batı and Others v. Turkey  group of cases. 67 Final Resolutions [2] were adopted by the Committee in respect of 246 judgments and decisions from the European court, concerning 21 different states. An  indicative list of cases  to be examined during the Committee’s next full meeting on the execution of judgments, which will take place from 30 November to 2 December 2021, was also adopted. Under Article 46 of the human rights convention, judgments from the European Court of Human Rights are binding on the states concer...