Since February 2022, EU restrictive measures adopted under the Common Foreign and Security Policy have increasingly focused on targeting private wealth in response to Russia’s war against Ukraine. This paper analyses the Council’s strategies for maintaining, renewing, and expanding sanctions against Russian businesspersons (oligarchs) and their assets. It analyses the post-2022 amendments to the design and application of listing criteria, particularly the criterion (g), and the use of presumptions to secure the durability of listings decisions and the long-term imposition of asset freezes. These techniques enhance the resilience of listings to judicial review, limit opportunities for de-listing targets and unfreezing their assets, de facto immobilising private wealth within the EU. Nonetheless, they also raise broader questions about the purpose of sanctions, in particular whether asset freezes remain targeted, reversible and preventive tools to influence behaviour, or are increasingly used as instruments that aim at the long-term immobilisation of wealth.

Increasing water scarcity forced the European Union to investigate the possibility of supplementing natural water sources with reclaimed wastewater. Regulation (EU) 2020/741 sets minimum requirements for the safe reuse of treated urban wastewater in agricultural irrigation. The risks that wastewater reuse presents are further regulated in the numerous EU law instruments that concern the protection of human health, the environment and the European waters, including both laws and principles. This paper applies the widely applicable framework for risk governance that was developed by the International Risk Governance Council to the EU regulatory framework on wastewater reuse. The analysis identifies regulatory gaps – unclear pollutant regulation, incomplete division of responsibilities, and insufficient attention to the science-policy interface – and concrete means of improving the regulation of risks associated with wastewater reuse.

Energy dependence and rising pollution from the energy sector have compelled states to re-evaluate their energy policies and legal frameworks in favour of sustainable energy development. In this context, energy transition emerges as a strategy to achieve global climate goals while ensuring energy security. However, making the energy transition a “just transition” presents numerous challenges. These challenges are growing as innovation in the energy sector accelerates, with digitalisation presented as a tool to drive the energy transition and optimise current energy systems. This trend has been integrated into the EU’s policy objectives and regulated by the EU’s legal framework. However, this political decision has sparked ethical and legal debates about the digital transformation of the EU energy sector, particularly regarding energy justice. By analysing instruments in the EU’s policy and legal framework, this paper addresses the intersection of the twin transitions through the lens of energy justice. Therefore, this study assesses the EU policy and legal framework of twin transitions from an energy justice perspective. The geographical scope of this research covered the EU. The methodology includes doctrinal legal research. The conclusions of this research encompass an assessment of selected EU policy and legal instruments applicable to the twin transitions.

European policymakers have long sought to strike an appropriate balance between supporting EU-native cultural production and pursuing the objectives of internal market harmonisation. To this end, the 2018 reform of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) introduced a set of measures for on-demand audiovisual media (VOD) providers, including catalogue quotas, prominence requirements and financial contributions. However, the coherence and effectiveness of these provisions remain highly contested. In particular, national implementations of financial obligations have produced adverse effects. They have intensified fragmentation among Member States and enabled them to prioritise domestic works over non-national European productions. Such fragmentation of the European audiovisual market will also preserve a heterogeneous ecosystem of producers, making it exceedingly difficult for a local service to scale and evolve into a pan-European platform. Consequently, despite the ambitions of EU policymakers, the emergence of European champions capable of competing with foreign players on an equal footing is likely to remain elusive. Moreover, the AVMSD rules on financial obligations create opportunities for regulatory gaming, insofar as Member States use the policy goal of fostering cultural and linguistic diversity as a convenient pretext for subsidising their local economies.

Hybrid threats represent a continued challenge to the European Union, combining disinformation campaigns with cyber-attacks as a means of destabilising the Union and its Member States, undermining legitimacy and public trust. With social media platforms at the centre of disinformation efforts, as well as potential sites for cyber-attack disruption, the ability to control narratives and disseminate content are essential to hybrid threat actors. Fake Activity Markets (FAMs) are websites offering services that can be used to generate fake engagement, in turn allowing for coordinated inauthentic behaviour online. These websites also constitute a cybersecurity threat in themselves, involved in distributing malware, harvesting user data or comprising information systems. This article seeks to explore the EU approach to hybrid threats and coordinated inauthentic behaviour using FAMs as a case study, highlighting the potential threats to the EU’s social and cyber resilience posed by these actors, the potential regulatory responses, and the ways in which the von der Leyen II Commission’s renewed emphasis on hybrid threats could provide for a more robust ecosystem for countering coordinated inauthentic behaviour.

A medicinal herbal tea classified as a traditional herbal medicinal product cannot, in principle, be marketed with the organic logo. The position may be otherwise where such an indication on the packaging has been approved by the competent authority on account of the beneficial effect of the organic production on the therapeutic characteristics of the medicinal product.

Under the notion of the twin transition, the green and digital transitions were conceptualised as a synergetic pair that should pave the way for a globally competitive green and digital Europe. But are European digital and environmental laws truly twins within the EU’s regulatory strategy, suggesting parallel approaches? In this article, we take a formal approach, focusing on regulatory instruments that are employed in both areas and their defining characteristics. While the twin transition in some respects blurs the boundaries between environmental and digital law, including through the integration of environmental considerations into digital regulations, we adopt an analytical distinction between the two domains. Through a series of steps, we identify key differences that set both regulatory approaches apart and help us understand the different trajectories the transitions have taken. Contrary to the often-invoked claim that form is substance, the analysis reveals that the choice of regulatory instruments does not inherently determine substantive policy choices, thereby underscoring the necessity of their comparative examination. Ultimately, the article argues that fostering dialogue between the two policy fields may yield valuable insights into how regulatory tools can be adapted and deployed across domains.

Regulating emerging technologies involves balancing the mitigation of risks with the promotion of innovation; a balance frequently seen as a zero-sum “dilemma of control.” Regulatory sandboxes offer a practical way to address this dilemma by enabling controlled, evidence-based testing of new technologies. In this article, we examine the regulatory sandbox framework introduced by the EU Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA). We argue that the AIA’s multi-level governance structure represents a shift from traditional sandbox models by prioritising regulatory learning over technological disruption and expanding public interest considerations to include strategically aligned commercial innovations. Afterwards, we identify governance challenges across three sandbox phases – pre-testing, testing and post-testing – and propose structured solutions. Our analysis suggests that effective sandbox governance requires specific mechanisms: tailored entry criteria, precise pipeline placement guidance and multi-agency coordination in pre-testing; experimental realism and continuous risk classification updates during testing and clear graduation criteria with robust transition support in post-testing.

This paper examines the regulatory challenges and opportunities surrounding the introduction of autonomous inland shipping in Europe. As regulators navigate this shift, they must strike a balance between innovation, safety, legal certainty and private actors’ interests. Drawing on principles guiding innovation, such as outcome-based, risk-based and adaptive regulation, as well as the precautionary, proportionality and technological neutrality principles, the paper proposes a framework for developing regulatory responses. It also analyses the relevance of EU horizontal digital regulations, including the AI Act and the Data Act, in shaping the governance of autonomous systems in inland waterways. The paper explores how the existing divisions of regulatory competence between European institutions and river commissions may hinder harmonisation, and proposes mechanisms to improve regulatory and judicial coherence in a multilevel governance context.

This paper analyses the General Court’s judgments of 25 June 2025 (RWE and Uniper) regarding the reviewability of ACER regulatory acts. The General Court endorsed a “hybrid approach,” excluding acts of general application from the jurisdiction of the Board of Appeal and subjecting them solely to judicial review under Article 263(4) TFEU. The study highlights how this interpretation creates significant procedural gaps and bureaucratic burdens for private parties. By contrasting these rulings with the more flexible standing criteria recently adopted by the Court of Justice (e.g., Nicoventures Case), the paper argues that the current framework fragments the EU system of judicial protection and undermines the principle of procedural economy in highly technical sectors.

Occupational accidents impose devastating human and economic costs worldwide, yet evidence on how judicial decisions affect workplace safety remains scarce. This study provides the first causal evidence on this relationship by examining Argentina’s landmark Aquino ruling (2004), which eliminated employers’ exemption from civil liability for workplace accidents. Using an event study design with provincial panel data (1997–2021), we exploit the differential impact of increased employer liability on workplace accidents versus commuting accidents (in itinere) as our identification strategy. Results show that workplace accidents decreased significantly by 16–27% following the judicial decision, with larger reductions in provinces with higher initial number of accidents. Importantly, we find no evidence of moral hazard effects when examining accidents that are difficult to detect and verify. The findings demonstrate that judicial decisions creating immediate economic liability can generate substantial behavioral responses even in developing country contexts with limited enforcement capacity, suggesting that liability-based approaches may effectively complement traditional regulatory strategies for improving workplace safety.

The efficacy of the “future-proof” Unfair Commercial Practices Directive against dark patterns is undermined by the fragmented regulatory landscape introduced by the Digital Services Act. Article 25 DSA creates four weaknesses: a general prohibition that is vague compared to the UCPD’s detailed framework; a narrow subjective scope that excludes many online traders; an exclusion clause in Article 25(2) that replaces cumulative application with an opaque hierarchy; and slow soft-law mechanisms for updating the law in response to new dark patterns. To resolve these contradictions, this article proposes four targeted reforms: first, repurposing Article 25(1) DSA as an institutional gateway for DSA authorities to apply substantive UCPD rules using the stronger DSA sanctions and enforcement regime; second, extending the prohibition’s scope to all intermediary service providers; third, the repeal of Article 25(2) DSA; and fourth, granting the Commission the power to update the UCPD blacklist via delegated acts for a swift response to emerging dark patterns. These reforms, particularly in combination, offer a coherent, future-proof regulatory framework that restores the centrality of the UCPD, preserves the innovations of the DSA, and equips EU law to address both current and emerging forms of dark patterns.

How do European Union (EU) fiscal allocations affect the electoral performance of corrupt incumbent governments? While existing research links EU funds to governance quality and corruption, less is known about how these resources interact with domestic political incentives to shape electoral outcomes. This article advances a theory of corruption compensation, arguing that EU transfers provide politically vulnerable incumbents with discretionary resources that can be redirected to consolidate electoral support. Using data on EU fiscal allocations and electoral outcomes in twenty-six member states between 2000 and 2015, the analysis shows that higher levels of EU funding are associated with larger electoral margins for governing parties in countries with high executive corruption. These effects are absent in less corrupt contexts. The findings suggest that, under weak domestic accountability and limited enforcement, EU fiscal instruments unintentionally reinforce illiberal governance and weaken the regulatory objectives of cohesion policy. The article highlights the need to integrate political risk considerations more systematically into the design and implementation of EU spending conditionality.

This article presents a novel type of co-regulation under EU law: codes of practice under the AI Act. The introductory section offers an overview on how the AI Act combines general statutory obligations with various non-legislative instruments. Following a brief presentation of the legal basis for codes of practice in the AI Act, the third section provides a detailed account of how the European AI Office put this sketchy statutory framework into practice for the first General-Purpose AI Code of Practice, which was approved on 1 August 2025. Drawing upon this experience, the conclusion highlights two practical and normative issues associated with codes of practice: tech-induced acceleration and a diffusion of responsibility.

What is adaptive regulation? Why does it matter? How can it be measured, and how can regulation be made more adaptive? I answer each of these four questions.

Laundering the proceeds of crime presents a fundamental threat to competitive markets, security and the well-being of European consumers. This paper examines the new European Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA), created as part of the 2024 EU AML package to raise supervisory standards and coordinate the fight against illicit finance across the internal market. Drawing on a collective-action perspective, the paper conceptualises AML as the provision of a public good that is undermined by clarity problems (divergent “rules-in-use” and expectations) and credibility problems (uneven likelihood and severity of consequences for non-compliance). It argues that AMLA is best understood as a hybrid decentralised authority that combines classification functions (single rulebook, technical standards, supervisory methodologies, common templates) with selective enforcement tools (direct supervision of high-risk cross-border groups and escalation mechanisms vis-à-vis national authorities), supported by enhanced coordination infrastructures. By framing these features of the EU AML regime as collective-action problems, the paper sheds new light on the strengths and limits of AMLA’s hybrid model for policing money laundering and contributes to wider debates about the effectiveness of AML policing and its role in supporting anti-corruption efforts.

EU policy documents often present the green and digital transitions as “twinned” and mutually beneficial. However, it is now widely acknowledged that new technologies, such as AI, have significant environmental costs. This awareness has induced the EU to recalibrate its approach to the twin transition and prompted the elaboration of new soft-law principles of digital sustainability, an early form of “eco-digital constitutionalism” at EU level. This paper examines the national AI strategies of the twenty-seven Member States to assess the extent to which this revised approach of the EU is reflected at the national level. Our analysis reveals that the strategies in question often differ starkly in the manner in which they prioritise the various matters that pertain to the intersection of environment and AI. We argue that these inconsistencies, which are rooted in different attitudes to the economics of innovation, cannot be solved fully through soft-law harmonisation.

The article discusses the unfolding of the anticorruption campaign in Romania, from pre-accession to present day. Its argument is that the risk-induced anticorruption paradigm has produced effects that have been from the very beginning irreconcilable with liberal-constitutional normativity. To generate results, normative understandings regarding fundamental rights, institutional autonomy, and judicial independence were subordinated to the policy imperatives and manipulated to achieve them. In the long run, normative considerations resurfaced as a backlash, in equally distorted and instrumental forms. I argue that a single-minded pursuit of policy imperatives thought conducive to risk-abatement has not only not reduced or managed the risk of corruption but also has generated more intractable, systemic threat patterns. Some of these paradoxical, unintended consequences are not contained, resulting in normative spillover within the common constitutional area. The first part of my paper discusses the politicisation of the judicial system. A second substantive section analyses the protracted saga of judicial salaries and pensions and repeated attempts to manipulate the retirement conditions in order to generate personnel and policy changes. A third probes into the dialogues between the CJEU, the Romanian Constitutional Court and the High Court of Cassation and Justice regarding the statute of limitations and its implications.

This case note analyses the General Court’s judgment in Arysta Lifescience v EFSA (Case T-222/23), which addresses the tensions arising from the disclosure of the lists of co-formulant in the context of the EU risk assessment of pesticides. The decision consolidates the General Court’s interpretation of “information relating to emissions into the environment” under Article 6(1) of Aarhus Regulation, confirming its applicability to the list of co-formulants contained in representative products.

This article outlines the Italian experience with the offence of abuse of office as a lens through which to analyse broader questions of accountability and discretion in public governance informed by the rule of law. While rooted in domestic legal history, the long-standing controversies surrounding this offence illuminate the political and legal sensitivities that have recently emerged in response to the proposed European directive on corruption, particularly the resistance voiced by several founding Member States. Beyond this contingent trigger, the contribution advances a more general claim: criminal misconduct in office lies at the core of the problem of holding public officials – both national and European – accountable in accordance with rule of law standards. The article argues that abuse of office occupies a distinctive position at the intersection of political discretion, administrative decision-making, and judicial review. Alongside acknowledging that the formulation of such an offence faces concerns relating to legality, fair trial guarantees, and the subsidiary role of criminal law, the article underlines that behaviour amounting to abuse carries a specific and serious wrongfulness that may justify criminalisation. Finally, drawing upon authoritative legal scholarship and interdisciplinary insights, the article offers an unorthodox account of abuse of office, suggesting that – even more than bribery – it undermines not only the legality but the very legitimacy of public power, thereby occupying a prominent position within the broader constellation of corruption-related crimes.