Written by Anneke Pelzer

Reading time: 5 minutes

Space surrounds us constantly. It is what we look up to when wishing on a shooting star, what has guided generations of sailors, and what is likely to become a battleground for global powers in the upcoming century. Contrary to expectations, few regulations and agreements exist to guide states’ actions in space. 

The disagreements begin with the very definition of space. To decide where space starts, one must first point out where the world ends. Generally, two different points are considered to define the end of our atmosphere, as different actors refer to the thermosphere or the exosphere. NASA and the US Army define space to begin 80 kilometres above Earth, where the thermosphere ends. However, other actors and scientists, such as the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) or the United Nations, consider the exosphere at 100 kilometres above Earth to be the starting point of space. 

By: Antonio Manuel Torres García

Everybody remembers the Draghi Report. After all, it sparked a serious debate over the EU’s competitive capacity vis-à-vis the wider world, and the ripple waves it generated are still very much omnipresent in the EU institutions, notably through the European Commission’s subsequent simplification agenda. While one could flag the Commission’s action as “incomplete”, that alone does not render the expansive effects of the renewed simplification efforts insufficient. And, in fact, it is anything but simple. In particular, areas where the EU is considered a trailblazer, such as in environmental (and the many collateral) legislation, these Omnibus packages, which breathe life into Draghi’s ideas, may hide what has been labelled as “deregulation”.

With the growing threat of global warming, sustainability and the protection of Earth’s environment remain central not only to the EU but also to the whole world. The law adopts an interesting position in this conflict. Specifically, the law must balance economic efficiency with sustainable practices. For instance, in the field of private law, sustainability has been increasingly gaining attention. To offer perspective on this topic, Bram Akkermans, a professor at Maastricht University and an expert in Sustainable Property law, shared his expertise with us.

By: Dori Febler, Read Time: 4 Min

Luxembourg has firmly established itself as the leading investment fund domicile in Europe and one of the largest in the world, attracting global asset managers and investors. Its continued expansion highlights the interaction between commercial strategy, EU law, and regulatory implementation, making this sector legally and commercially significant for lawyers practising in corporate, finance, and regulatory fields.

By: Dori Febler, Read Time: 3 Min

The European Union faces growing pressure to ensure that consumers can resolve disputes fairly and efficiently in an increasingly digital and borderless marketplace. The proliferation of digital services, online transactions, and cross-border purchases has made it difficult for traditional redress methods to keep up with economic and technological advancements. Once hailed as a practical link between consumers and justice, Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) is currently at a turning point. The EU's upcoming ADR framework reform is an ambitious attempt to adjust to a data-driven, global economy while also acknowledging past errors. In light of this, the European Commission's legislative push is part of a larger attempt to restore consumer confidence and regulatory relevance in the digital era, rather than merely updating existing policies.

By: Antonio Manuel Torres García

The European Union (EU) is oftentimes viewed as an entity that works for the betterment of its members, and while this is largely true, taking into consideration its objectives, values, competences, and means of action, it is nonetheless a narrow view of the wider action the EU undertakes in a more general scene. The position the EU takes when engaging with foreign agents varies according to mutual interests, feasibility, likelihood, and overall net benefit on both sides. But while trade agreements and economic partnership agreements (EPAs) fall within the external action competences the EU enjoys and tend to take the spotlight, they are not the only scenarios in which the EU engages with other states. Separate from the nascent state of a common European defence policy, which represents another facet of the EU action with external effects, European strategies like the Global Gateway mount up to projects comprising initiatives with the aim of tackling the world’s most pressing global challenges; a project that unavoidably carries an explicit “global” approach.

By: Antonio Manuel Torres García

The European Union (EU) is oftentimes viewed as an entity that works for the betterment of its members, and while this is largely true, taking into consideration its objectives, values, competences, and means of action, it is nonetheless a narrow view of the wider action the EU undertakes in a more general scene. The position the EU takes when engaging with foreign agents varies according to mutual interests, feasibility, likelihood, and overall net benefit on both sides. But while trade agreements and economic partnership agreements (EPAs) fall within the external action competences the EU enjoys and tend to take the spotlight, they are not the only scenarios in which the EU engages with other states. Separate from the nascent state of a common European defence policy, which represents another facet of the EU action with external effects, European strategies like the Global Gateway mount up to projects comprising initiatives with the aim of tackling the world’s most pressing global challenges; a project that unavoidably carries an explicit “global” approach.

By: Anneke Pelzer, Reading time: 4 min

When Greta Thunberg stood up at the podium at the UN Climate Action Summit in 2018 and spoke her famous words „How dare you?“  over and over again, she was trying to get the world’s political elite to take action against mankind’s greatest threat, climate change. Today, in 2025, frustratingly little progress has been made. Instead, it seems like other problems and crises have always been more important. The covid pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine have both challenged European economies unexpectedly, which has led to the postponing of efficient measures to lower the European Union’s (EU) greenhouse gas emissions. Existing goals like the EU becoming climate-neutral by 2050 or the 2015 Paris Treaty limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees celsius get increasingly unreachable as more time without action passes. In the present day, European member states’ worries mostly revolve around protection of Europes’ borders, which has caused military spending to have reached a new high in the EU. With rearmament’s new importance, the question arises as to how the EU wants to include its new focus on military advances in its climate goals. 

By: Dori Felber, reading time: 4 minutes, 58 seconds

Ensuring balanced representation on corporate boards has moved from a mere social objective to a legal and governance priority across the EU. On 17 October 2022, the Council adopted its final text on gender balance in the corporate boards of listed companies (Directive 2022/238). How did this Directive impact corporate governance? In order to answer such a question, it is first necessary to outline what the Directive entails: its objectives, policy background and scope. Only then can we meaningfully assess its legal and practical implications for corporate governance across Member States. 

By Aurora Dagnino, reading time: 5 minutes and 45 seconds

Greece's parliament approved a few weeks ago a contested labour bill that would allow 13-hour workdays, despite strong opposition from labour unions, opposition lawmakers, and civil society groups, all of whom argued that the measure undermines worker protections. Two nationwide strikes were held in the space of two weeks from early October, paralyzing the country.  In both Athens and Thessaloniki, transportation networks were shut down, while hospital staff, teachers and other civil servants stopped working.