In an interesting and important decision of the Court of Justice of the EU, sitting as a Grand Chamber in Commission v Malta (Citizenship by Investment) [2024] EUECJ C-181/23, the Court has found that Malta’s 2020 ‘investor citizenship’ scheme is incompatible with EU law, in particular with the principle of sincere cooperation enshrined in article 4(3) of the Treaty on European Union (‘TEU’) by which ‘the Union and the Member States shall, in full mutual respect, assist each other in carrying out tasks which flow from the Treaties’, and citizenship of the Union at Article 20 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (‘TFEU’).
EJIL Analysis
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Judicial Restraint and Jurisdictional Clarity: Decoding the ICJ’s Decision in Sudan v. United Arab Emirates
On 5th May, 2025, the International Court of Justice [‘ICJ’] delivered its Order in Sudan v. United Arab Emirates, in the application filed on March 5, 2025 instituting proceedings against the UAE concerning alleged violations of the Genocide Convention [Convention], concerning the Masalit…
The WHO Pandemic Agreement: Equity for Developing States or Business as Usual?
At 3am on Wednesday 16th April 2025, after three years of intense negotiations, WHO member states (minus the United States) preliminarily consented to a final text of the so-called Pandemic Agreement. The text will now be considered for final adoption at the upcoming World Health Assembly meeting in May 2025, where – barring any major upsets –…
Sudan v UAE: Where Legal Categories could have met Fluid Identities
Sudan v. United Arab Emirates is no more before the International Court of Justice. Not only did the Court reject Sudan’s request for provisional measures against the UAE due to a lack of prima facie jurisdiction; it controversially – nine judges voted in favour; seven against – removed the case from its general list, arguing that there was…
Litigating The Maputo Protocol in relation to Conflict-related Sexual Violence Before the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights – Two Steps ahead and One Step Back
In a landmark decision adopted in 2024 and disclosed in April 2025 in Communication No. 700/18 dealing with the Minova case v. Democratic Republic of Congo (only available in French), the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (“the Commission”) concluded to the responsibility of the DRC in the grave and massive violations of rights of more…