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An introduction is presented in which the editors discuss various reports within the issue on topics including legal dimension of the rule of law in the European Union's (EU), its interrelated objectives of enlargement, accession criteria, democracy, and rule of law, and the rule of law promotion.

A diplomatic mission abroad can assist an individual in (temporarily) escaping a host States jurisdiction within the latter's territory, especially when this individual has a well-founded fear for the violation of his fundamental rights. In such cases, EU Member States have occasionally opened the doors of their diplomatic premises for urgent humanitarian reasons. This article investigates which legal framework would apply if one of the Delegations of the EU's worldwide diplomatic network were to offer shelter. It explores whether the EU--as an actor in international law and being founded on the values of respect for human dignity and human rights--may be legally obliged to uphold an extraterritorial non-refoulement principle in a diplomatic context. Finally, the article studies delicate issues such as offering protection through diplomatic means, co-operation modes set up with EU Member States, and the processing of individual cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The free trade agreement currently negotiated between the EU and India is due to be the first of a new generation of free trade agreements between the EU and an emerging economy. This article addresses a number of critical issues in the negotiations and the EU's response to them. These issues include European labour standards and General Agreement on Trade in Services Mode 4 liberalisation; Indian generic medicine production and EU interests in patent protection; EU agricultural subsidies and their impact on the Indian dairy sector; the human rights and democracy dimension of the EU's foreign policy; and transparency issues of the negotiation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU's Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) requires parliamentary accountability. At present, as CSDP-related decisions are increasingly taken in the framework of the UN or the EU, neither the European Parliament (EP) nor national parliaments are able to hold decision-makers accountable. Interparliamentary cooperation can provide added value in bringing about parliamentary scrutiny of CSDP. Nevertheless, despite an official agreement, the EP and national parliaments have different views on what such interparliamentary cooperation entails. There are five conditions – cooperation and complementarity among parliaments, conferential dialogues, coordinated agendas, and comprehensive and comparative scrutiny – that have to be fulfilled to create added value for interparliamentary cooperation on CSDP matters. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This symposium considers Europe's global social policy through an exchange of ideas between scholars with different areas of expertise. The lead article provides an overview of the EU's objectives and instruments in promoting the social dimension of globalization, illustrating its focus on international labour standards and the International Labour Organization (ILO), and the shift from trade measures to a broader spectrum of soft external policy instruments. More specifically, we analyse the horizontal and vertical coherence of the EU's international social policies. The three other contributions to this symposium elaborate on this distinction by examining the social dimension of the European Neighbourhood Policy, the 'uploading' of the EU social model in the ILO, and the EU's promotion of corporate social responsibility in the world. These accounts suggest that market-enhancing goals often take priority over social objectives, and that the EU can at best be seen as a regional social power. In addition, the contributions point to the limitations of an ambitious EU role in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines whether tort litigation for abuses in corporations, especially human-rights abuses, has a future in the European Union. It states that the criminal-law avenue might be desirable in continental-European countries, given the generally broader geographic ambit of criminal law in the European Union and the resistance of Europe against the sue of tort litigation as a vehicle to deal global justice. In the European Union, barely any criminal investigations into abuses in corporations abroad have been launched which begs the queries whether Europe might only be a less litigation society than the U.S.

Assesses the European Union (EU) criminal law measures against terrorism following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the U.S. Arrest Warrant Framework Decision; Terrorist Framework Decision; EU-U.S. extradition agreement; Mutual legal assistance agreements.