European Union

Société des produits Nestlé v Mondelez UK Holdings & Services
Intellectual and industrial property
EUIPO must reconsider whether the three-dimensional shape of a ‘4 Finger KitKat’ can be retained as an EU trade mark

Dyson
Energy
Not providing consumers with information on the testing conditions that resulted in the energy classification indicated on the energy label of vacuum cleaners does not constitute a ‘misleading omission’

Commission v Spain and Others
State aid
The Court of Justice sets aside the judgment of the General Court on the ‘Spanish tax lease system’

Generalstaatsanwaltschaft (Conditions de détention en Hongrie)
DFON
An assessment of detention conditions in the issuing Member State made prior to the execution of a European arrest warrant must be limited to the prisons in which it is actually intended that the person concerned will be held

Minister for Justice and Equality
Area of Freedom, Security and Justice
A judicial authority called upon to execute a European arrest warrant must refrain from giving effect to it if it considers that there is a real risk that the individual concerned would suffer a breach of his fundamental right to an independent tribunal and, therefore, of the essence of his fundamental right to a fair trial on account of deficiencies liable to affect the independence of the judiciary in the issuing Member State

It is a poor reflection of the pro-Remain campaign that even two years after the referendum, much of Britain is still basking in shocking ignorance about how the EU functions, the reason it exists, and how it is a democracy run by its members for the benefit of its members.

We are leaving the EU based entirely on a misunderstanding and worse, a pack of lies.

There is probably less than a 10% chance of another referendum, and if there is another referendum, currently only a 50-50 chance of Remain winning.

Unfortunately, the Remain campaign, starting from May 2015 up until now, has been entirely inept, disorganised, and without a dynamic and effective strategy.

It could have been very different.

We should have won the 2016 referendum without much difficulty. But the Remain side was smug, and not at all prepared for the panzer warfare launched with such brilliant effect by the Leave campaign, albeit all based on lies, deceits and false promises.

Remainers lost forty years of opportunities at awareness raising since winning the 1975 referendum. We let the likes of the Daily Mail, the Daily Express and the small UKIP party pollute the nation with misinformation about the EU and EU migrants.

For most of the forty years it didn’t seem to matter. Leaving the EU was not a mainstream call or promise of the main parties. There were grumblings, but these were on the sidelines of politics, occupied by a few diehard Eurosceptics.

Complacency ruled. If there was another referendum, of course the status quo would win. David Cameron banked his prime ministership on it. But he lost, and left.

It was a huge shock that Leave won the referendum – a shock to Remainers, and a shock to Leavers.

Few expected Brexit to win. It’s rare indeed for a referendum to go against the advice of the government, of Parliament, of the main parties and, dare I say it, of most experts.

The official ‘Stronger In’ campaign lacked panache, flair and any sense of direction. Their strategy was no match for the Leave campaign.

Trying to scare voters into opting for Remain was no way to win. The Remain campaign spent precious little time or energy explaining to the nation how the EU works, how it is a democracy, and how Britain has greatly benefited from its membership.

Fear, not facts, ruled the day. Or so the Remain strategists thought.

But when the day came, fear lost.

We should have learnt. The British don’t like to be scared or cowed into doing something. They react the opposite way.

That should have been known from the stoical reaction of the Brits to the Blitz, when the Nazis thought they could frighten Blighty into submission. How wrong they were.

And how wrong was Stronger In. Their strategy didn’t work.

They lost the Referendum, but they also lost the arguments. The Leave lies about the EU won, and there was little in the way of an effective counter attack, using the only antidote known to work against lies: the truth.

Well, that was two years ago. What of the truth now?

Unfortunately, misinformation about the EU still prevails. And there is still no effective counter-attack.

There is no national, prominent, brilliant and well-funded ongoing awareness raising campaign by any pro-EU, anti-Brexit group to undo the lies of Leave.

(Yes, there are many smaller groups trying, often valiantly, but nothing that is anywhere close to a dazzling, nation-wide, compelling campaign that’s needed to undo the lies of Leave politicians).

Across the country, enormous numbers of people still believe that the EU is a dictatorship run by unelected, faceless bureaucrats.

They still believe that the EU rules over us, without us having any real say.

They still think that the EU annual membership fee represents poor value for money, which would be better spent on something else.

They still believe that we have uncontrolled borders, with too many citizens from the rest of the EU coming here, without any restrictions.

They still think we’ll get our country back as soon as we’ve left the EU.

They even still believe that the EU accounts are a sham that the auditors refuse to sign off.

And so on, and so on, and so on.

All these beliefs are based on myths; on misinformation that has been carefully and successfully imbued into the nation’s psyche and mindset over many years.

And they could all be undone by a proper explanation to the nation of the truth. Because when properly explained, truth outshines lies, at least eventually.

We know this from many awareness raising campaigns of the past, whether it’s a campaign to explain that smoking causes cancer; the campaign to demonstrate that wearing a seatbelt saves lives; the five-a-day campaign to eat more fruit and veg; the NHS FAST campaign to help people recognise strokes.; the campaign to boycott products from apartheid South Africa…

All these successful campaigns and many others were based on getting facts and the truth out to the public in an effective, believable, emotive and memorable way.

It’s something the pro-Remain movement has not done well. It’s hardly done it at all.

The focus currently is getting a new referendum – coined the ‘people’s vote’. But there will be no point getting a new vote unless we can decisively win that vote.

Not just a reversal of the last vote: 52%-48%. But a conclusive vote of 60%-40% or more, to see this matter settled for at least a generation.

But that’s not going to be achievable if large parts of the country still believe the lies that won the 2016 referendum – lies that would be used again if there is another referendum.

There’s an old saying: look after the pennies, and the pounds will look after themselves.

The nation needs a compelling reason to have another vote. Demolish the lies that led to Brexit, and the call for a new vote will look after itself. And be truly winnable.

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The post We still haven’t won the arguments we lost appeared first on Ideas on Europe.

DRAFT REPORT on the implementation of the EU association agreement with Georgia
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Andrejs Mamikins

Source : © European Union, 2018 - EP

DRAFT REPORT on the implementation of the EU association agreement with Moldova
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Petras Auštrevičius

Source : © European Union, 2018 - EP

  New article forthcoming (in 2018) in History of Humanities and posted to SSRN: Democracy and the Vernacular Imagination in Vico’s Plebian Philology

Abstract:

This essay examines Giambattista Vico’s philology as a contribution to democratic legitimacy. I outline three steps in Vico’s account of the historical and political development of philological knowledge. First, his merger of philosophy and philology, and the effects of that merge on the relative claims of reason and authority. Second, his use of antiquarian knowledge to supersede historicist accounts of change in time and to position the plebian social class as the true arbiters of language. Third, his understanding of philological knowledge as an instrument of political change, and a foundational element in the establishment of democracy. By treating the philological imagination as a tool for bringing about political change, Vico’s plebian philology is radically democratic, and a crucial instrument in the struggle against the elite, from antiquity to the present.

The post New article on Vico and Democracy appeared first on Ideas on Europe.

Weekly schedule of President Donald Tusk 23-29 July 2018

Main agenda items, approximate timing, public sessions and press opportunities.

During his meeting with Prime Minister Bakhtadze, President Tusk confirmed the EU determination to further deepen the cooperation between EU and Georgia.

High Representative Federica Mogherini issued a declaration on behalf of the EU on President Omar Al-Bashir visit to Russia on 14 July 2018.

Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union on the alignment of certain third countries with Council Decision (CFSP) 2018/880 of 18 June 2018 amending Decision 2014/386/CFSP concerning restrictive measures in response to the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol

Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union on the alignment of certain third countries with Council Decision (CFSP) 2018/901 of 25 June 2018 amending Decision (CFSP) 2017/2074 concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Venezuela

Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union on the alignment of certain third countries with Council Decision (CFSP) 2018/900 of 25 June 2018 amending Decision 2013/184/CFSP concerning restrictive measures against Myanmar/Burma

Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union on the alignment of certain third countries with Council Decision (CFSP) 2018/833 of 4 June 2018 amending Decision 2010/413/CFSP concerning restrictive measures against Iran

On 18 July, EU ambassadors confirmed the agreement reached with the Parliament to increase the budget of the structural reform support programme by €80 million.

Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17

Following the second EU-CELAC ministerial meeting, participants adopted a declaration.