Latest blog articles

Recently, the usage of English as the main language of Maastricht University has been disapproved by some noisy intellectuals who are frequenting talkshows for the elderly. According to these gurus, Dutch universities should stick to the Dutch language, especially in case of studies such as...

This is a brief analysis of Facebook’s data sharing practices under unfair competition rules in the US and EU. A paper on this topic co-authored by myself and MEPLI research fellow Stephan Mulders will be available shortly, and it will be presented at the Amsterdam Privacy Conference in October 2018...

With the painful experiences of new Member States breaching the rule of law and democracy principles inside the EU and no tailor-made remedy to punish and enforce EU values, the Commission suggests in its Western Balkans strategy that future accession treaties could provide for such a mechanism to...

The Istanbul Convention certainly has the potential to improve the protection and support of battered women. However, much will depend on the implementation by the States parties and the interpretation and assessment of the obligations by the monitoring body.

To speak of economic justice today is to speak of the basic income. A basic income can be defined as an unconditional cash payment to all persons who form part of a political community. As automation increases, there is fear that labor will be replaced by “robots”. The basic income seems to be a...

The internationalisation of higher education (IoHE) relates to sensitive topics of public concern. Considering the ongoing debate in the Netherlands regarding the challenges related to the internationalisation of higher education, it is time to take a step back and remember the many benefits as...

Van Vliet emphasises: looted art is legally very complex. “The cases are terribly complicated. To begin with, how do you find out what happened back then? It starts for example with research into the heirs: you have to ensure that you have access to all the wills and division of joint property (in...

In May 2018 the European Commission presented the plan of a new financial framework for 2021-2027. In which is stated that the European Commission, among other things, aims to make the subsidies which are given to the countries, conditional upon the level at which a member state complies with EU...

Globally the majority of health-related R&D is invested in medicines with substantial guaranteed returns, yet what is missing is extensive R&D targeted at diseases overwhelmingly prevalent in developing countries. This threatens long-term availability of medicines and treatment options for these...

While the internationalisation of higher education is under pressure in the Netherlands, legal education is an example of how a language policy can be successful: dependent on the aim and contents of the curriculum, lawyers can also be taught in other languages than their own.