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The EU and its Member States both contribute to the informalization of international relations’ tools by concluding bilateral soft law instruments which prepare, implement, and especially replace international agreements. This contribution analyses the EU practice of applying international soft law and focuses on the institutional challenges deriving from external relations’ soft law instruments. It has the three-fold aim of explaining why the informalization or ‘softification’ of EU bilateral instruments has proliferated, categorizing them according to their function and purpose in international law and EU external relations law and finally assessing the legal implications in EU law resulting from their application. The paper will argue that while, in practice, differences between international treaty law and bilateral soft law disappear, more legal challenges arise in the EU system through bilateral soft law measures than international agreements. This is caused by the rules on EU external representation, dispersed among supranational and intergovernmental EU actors and characterized by their general wording. International soft law tools operate in a politically contested area with several actors and a variety of informal instruments. The flexibility and hybrid character of soft law form an advantage for the institutions at the expense of the rule of law, legal certainty, and legal review.

The integration of third European countries into the EU’s framework of policies and rules is a trajectory of renewed attention in law and politics. The international agreements setting up a legal relationship between the EU and the third European country might differ in detail, but are characterized by similar legal building blocks and legal tools. This chapter explains which categories of international agreements exist and which legal tools are employed to build a European Legal Space in which the EU rules and policies are extended to third countries. The legal content and the legal tools extending EU rules and enforcing and safeguarding their application in international agreements are decisively shaped by the EU’s formal, political and judicial conditions. These conditions are characterized by respecting EU’s competences, safeguarding the integrity of EU law and the autonomy of the EU courts.

This book originates from the proceedings of the 10th anniversary conference of the Centre for the Law of EU External Relations (CLEER) in which renowned experts in the field took stock of recent evolutions in the law and practice of the EU’s external relations. In particular, the book addresses the question of how the evolving legal and political framework affects the nature of EU external relations law. The contributions discuss the actions (and reactions) of the EU through external action instruments in a number of substantive areas such as migration, trade, neighbouring policies, security and defence. By shedding light on the most significant developments of the past decade this edited volume attests to the ever-evolving nature of the field of EU External Relations Law. Thus, this book is essential reading for academics, practitioners and policy makers at the EU level interested in the field of EU External Relations Law.Dr. W.Th. Douma is an Independent legal expert at the European Environmental Law Consultancy and EU Legal – Centre for European and International Law, both based in The Netherlands, voluntary researcher at Ghent University in Belgium, and Senior Legal Adviser at the Dutch Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment. Prof. Dr. C. Eckes is Professor of European Law at the University of Amsterdam and director of the Amsterdam Centre for European Law and Governance, The Netherlands. Prof. Dr. P. Van Elsuwege is Professor of European Union Law at Ghent University and co-director of the Ghent European Law Institute, Belgium. Dr. E. Kassoti is Senior researcher in EU and International Law at the Asser Institute and academic co-ordinator of the Centre for the Law of EU External Relations (CLEER), The Netherlands. Prof. Dr. A. Ott is Professor of EU External Relations Law and Jean Monnet professor in EU Law at Maastricht University, The Netherlands. Prof. Dr. R.A. Wessel is Professor of European Law and Head of the European and Economic Law Department at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands.

The EU-Turkey Statement of 18 March 2016 (Statement) is by now a famous but controversial instrument that aims to tackle the influx of migrants and asylum-seekers into the EU. The Statement has also resulted in extensive debate in practice and academe about its authorship, legal nature under international law and especially its legality in light of EU law. Given the uncertainties that surround the Statement’s nature, the investigation adopts a pluralistic approach, and envisages three alternative scenarios: the Statement as an (binding or non-binding) instrument entered into by the Member States (scenario 1, part 2), as a non-binding arrangement entered into by the Union (scenario 2, part 3), and as a binding agreement concluded by the Union (scenario 3, part 4). The analysis suggests that scenario 1 (the Statement as an instrument entered into by the Member States) is unrealistic, despite being supported by the GC. At the same time, reasonable arguments can be formulated in favour of both scenarios 2 and 3 (a binding or non-binding Statement entered into by the Union). After having discussed the legal nature of the Statement, under each scenario, the chapter analyses its compatibility with EU institutional law. The argument is made that legal problems might potentially arise in every case, especially under scenario 3.

This contribution will assess to what extent the UK can opt-in into EU agencies. It analyses the framework and conditions of third-country participation by emphasising that agencies serve EU policies and that third countries have committed to applying certain EU policies or participating in the EU internal market. Consequently, participation in EU agencies by outsiders are classified into four categories (sui generis participation under international law, semi-membership of Schengen third countries, EEA members without voting rights and observers). It will be assessed what conditions are connected to this participation and to what extent the UK fits in any of these categories.

EU-Turkey bilateral relations are characterised by complexity, mutual ambivalence and a three-layered structure. The first layer is the 50 year-long association relationship based on a customs union. The second layer, in the form of the accession process, provides Turkey with a candidate status since 1999 which resulted in accession talks in 2005 but have since December 2006 been practically frozen. The third and more recent layer is characterised by the compartmentalisation of policy fields such as migration, aviation and energy cooperation. This latter development has two explanations: first, to serve the EU’s short-term and mid-term interests, with accession a ‘far away’ prospect for any of the current candidate countries, and, second, to streamline the approach to Turkey with the other accession candidates. Under the renewed consensus on enlargement since 2006, difficult issues such as administrative and judicial reforms and the fight against corruption will be addressed at an early stage of the negotiations and the more systematic use of benchmarks will be applied, with concrete criteria for the opening and closing of individual negotiation chapters. Since the 2015 EU refugee crisis, new dynamics in EU-Turkey relations appear to develop for all other layers in the bilateral relations. With the political events of 2016 in Turkey, the delicate balance in the multilayered relationship is threatened and both sides are returning to old habits of mistrust and ambivalence in their relations.

In the three recent accession waves since 2004 extensive rules in the act of accession and annexes were introduced to deviate from EU primary law for a transitional period of time. This intergovernmental differentiation in EU law results in different legal regimes applicable between existing and incoming EU Member States. This differentiation poses an overall challenge to coherence and unity of EU law. It leads in the area of the Internal market to complex legal regimes whose legality comes under scrutiny in light of non-discrimination and EU citizenship rights. In addition, this differentiation has implications as ‘external differentiation’ according to which EU citizens are temporary discriminated against compared to EEA/Swiss citizens and EU citizens in the EU/EEA area and in Switzerland.

The European Parliament's role in EU external relations and treaty-making has increased over the years through constitutional practice and Treaty amendments. Finally, with the Treaty of Lisbon, the European Parliament's constitutional rights in treaty-making establish – in the words of the European Court of Justice (CJEU) – ‘symmetry between legislation-making and treaty-making in compliance with institutional balance provided for by the Treaties’. In a comparative overview, the European Parliament has ascertained more extensive powers over treaty-making compared to the majority of national parliaments which are only involved in politically important international treaties. This contribution addresses the consequences of this symmetry or parallelism and asks whether it leads to structural symmetry or even procedural symmetry which synchronizes the acts of legislating and treaty-making with each other. This contribution analyses the role of the European Parliament in the different phases of international treaty-making against the backdrop of this constitutional practice. This constitutional practice is shaped by intergovernmental agreements, bilateral arrangements and European Parliament resolutions and is influenced by the mounting case law of the CJEU. It also assesses the European Parliament's role in concluding international administrative agreements concluded by the Commission and Europol and how far the constitutional practice is in line with EU primary law.

Degradable and light-addressable silica capsules have been prepared on the basis of CaCO3 template particles. It was possible to load these capsules with an array of molecules such as anticancer drugs (doxorubicin), proteins (bovine serum albumin), and nucleic acids (mRNA encoding green fluorescent protein). In vitro degradation and release of these molecules was demonstrated and quantitatively compared with several kinds of polyelectrolyte multilayer capsules as examples of other delivery vehicles. The data suggests hydrolysis as a mechanism involved in intracellular degradation of silica capsules. Photothermal heating (by integrating plasmonic nanoparticles in the silica shell) was further used to induce remote molecular release.

This contribution will be devoted to the parallel legal orders which are established in the EU legal space. These legal orders align third countries through international agreements with the EU legal order. The Turkish association is one of them but also the European Economic Area (EEA), the Swiss bilaterals on persons, the Energy Community Treaty, the European Common Aviation Area Agreement and the Ukrainian Association can be counted as being among these special agreements. These agreements are not only characterized with the special aim of approximation to parts of the EU acquis but are also equipped with directly effective norms and homogeneity clauses. These homogeneity clauses are intended by the contracting parties to enable an identical interpretation of these international agreements norms with EU treaty norms. Relevant rulings on EU law will be also taken into account in the interpretation of identically or similarly phrased provisions. By comparing the different homogeneity clauses found in these agreements and putting them into the context of the relevant case law, it shall be concluded whether the judges follow the aims of these provisions.

Thin films of LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 (LNMO) were prepared on gold-coated stainless steel substrates via a poly(vinylpyrrolidone)-based sol-gel process. Films with a thickness in the range of 1 μm were found to exhibit a capacity close to the theoretical one. The formation of interlayers (i) between the LNMO films and the LP30 electrolyte (mixture of dimethyl carbonate (DMC) and ethylene carbonate (EC) (1:1 v/v) containing 1 mol·l−1LiPF6) and (ii) between the LNMO films and the gold-coated substrate was studied by means of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), time-of-flight secondary-ion mass-spectrometry (ToF-SIMS), and scanning transmission electron microscopy together with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (STEM/EDX). The combination of these methods turns out to be very powerful for understanding the chemical composition and properties of interlayers and for identifying the origin of semicircles in Nyquist impedance plots. At the LNMO/LP30 interface, we observe an interlayer (solid electrolyte interface, SEI) with a thickness of about 50 nm, while at the LNMO/gold interface, a mixed oxide layer with a thickness in the range of 250 nm is found. The mixed oxide layer is caused by diffusion of Cr and Ni from the stainless steel through the gold layer. While the LNMO/LP30 interlayer contributes significantly to the interfacial impedance, the impedance of the LNMO/gold interlayer seems to be negligible, despite its larger thickness.

Wer kommuniziert im Pflegebereich eines Krankenhauses mit wem und zu welchem Zweck? Sammeln Sie Informationen und gestalten Sie ein Schaubild dazu.

Polyelectrolyte multilayer (PEM) films and capsules loaded with ion-sensitive fluorophores can be used as ion-sensors for many applications including measurements of intracellular ion concentration. Previous studies have shown the influence of the PEM films/shells on the specific response of encapsulated ion-sensitive fluorophores. PEM shells are considered as semipermeable barriers between the environment and the encapsulated fluorophores. Parameters such as the time response of the encapsulated sensor can be affected by the porosity and charge of the PEM shell. In this study, the time response of an encapsulated pH-sensitive fluorophore towards pH changes in the surrounding environment is investigated. Furthermore, the conductance of PEM films for potassium ions is determined.

This article is devoted to new institutional actors in EU external relations. The number of EU regulatory agencies has increased over the years. By fulfilling important administrative tasks in the European Union, these agencies actively participate in international relations with third–country agencies or international organizations in such fields as aviation, food safety or border control. However, their actions have not only to be analysed against the backdrop of the internal implications for the Union’s institutional balance and the principles of democracy and transparency but also for their consequences on EU external relations law. This contribution aims to categorize these actions of EU regulatory agencies and highlight that their international relations move in a legal minefield between European and international law.

Haben betagte Menschen physische und kognitive Einschränkungen, kann die Wahrung oder Förderung der Autonomie schwierig sein. Ein handlungsbezogener Autonomiebegriff und die Methoden der partizipativen Entscheidungsfindung können helfen.

Alle Menschen machen Fehler. Um aus Fehlern zu lernen, halten Kliniken Fehlermeldesysteme vor. Hier werden Fehler eingetragen, die zu einem Patientenschaden hatten fuhren konnen, es aber nicht getan haben. Daher werden diese Fehler als Beinahe-Fehler bezeichnet. Es geht darum, die Situation zu bewerten und nicht einer Person die Schuld zu geben. Anhand eines Beispiels erhalten Sie einen praktischen Einblick in ein Fehlermeldesystem.

Gibt es in Ihrer Heimat Organisationen, Einrichtungen, Berufsverbande oder Ahnliches, die die Interessen und Rechte von Pflegekraften vertreten? Wenn ja, welche? Sammeln Sie Informationen – durch Recherche im Internet, in Bibliotheken, Austausch mit Kollegen usw. – und erarbeiten Sie ein »multimediales« Schaubild mit allen moglichen Informationen: mit Stichpunkten, Bildern, Fotos, Organigrammen, Ausdrucken aus dem Internet usw.