By Brian Chae

French Parliament Elects to Extend National State of Emergency for the Fifth Time

France has been in an official state of emergency since the Paris shootings in late 2015 that left 130 people dead. Following the Bastille Day attack in August 2016 that left another eighty-seven dead, the French parliament voted by an overwhelming majority of 288-32 to extend the state of emergency until after the July 2017 elections. This gives the new president an opportunity to reassess security and extend the state of emergency if necessary. As Hollande is not seeking re-election and Le Pen is strongly favored to win office, another extension seems a distinct possibility. Declaring a state of emergency is significant because it curtails certain civil liberties and empowers the executive to respond to a serious threat to public order. One of the most significant examples of this includes the executive’s ability to unilaterally issue “administrative” search warrants without judicial approval. This was seen in action when French authorities raided a number of properties in rapid succession in search of suspects following the Paris and Nice attacks. Another significant executive power afforded in this situation is the power to expel certain individuals from French territories or place them under temporary house arrest. This has great implications for the wider European refugee crisis.

Obama Administration Releases Report on the Legal Bases on Which Continued United States Military Operations Abroad Justified

Since the 2001 AUMF marked the legal beginning of the War on Terror, both Bush and Obama have relied on their “powers against those . . . [they] determine” necessary in order to prevent future terrorist attacks on the United States to wage war on various factions on multiple continents. This report provides a comprehensive summary of the domestic and international legal bases for the use of force in preservation of United States national security, consistent with respect for the sovereignty of other nations. It discusses these rationales with respect to use of military force abroad and to detention and applies them to particular theaters of conflict. The report does not, however, fully address the claims of some critics that the President is overly expansive in construing its constitutional and international authority.

Massive Influx of Refugees Sparks Concerns Over Western Inability to Effectively Control Crime and Terrorism

The refugee crisis continues to be an unresolved and contentious issue among Western governments. Amid reports that terrorist attacks in France and Belgium were linked to Islamic extremism, domestic support for tighter border control and refugee policing has dramatically increased. This has precipitated in the rise of right-wing political movements in many Western countries, such as Brexit in the United Kingdom, the election of Trump in the United States, and the potential election of Le Pen in France.

Read More

March 25, 2017

By Alec Diamond

France is ranked a lowly 23^rd in Transparency International’s Public Corruption Perception Index. In recent years, French companies like Alstom and Total have been forced to pay millions of dollars to U.S. authorities over bribery allegations. The French Finance Minister, Michel Sapin, finding the nation’s foreign corruption record insulting, has announced a new anti-corruption bill. Provisions will include increased protections for whistleblowers (an important tool used by the U.S. DOJ to identify potential FCPA violations), the creation of an anti-corruption agency, and a ban on large gifts to government officials. Time will tell if this new bill generates comparable revenue through fines to the FCPA in the United States. Interestingly, the government dropped plans to provide for guilty pleas in exchange for financial settlements under the new laws (most cases that have been brought by U.S. authorities end in settlement rather than trial).

Read More

May 04, 2016

By William Stroupe

France has proposed that the European Union impose sanctions on Libya to nudge the country’s fractious political factions towards the creation of a unity government. Though the country has an internationally recognized parliament, two separate parliaments have competed for primacy since 2014 when an Islamist militia ousted the internationally recognized government from Tripoli. Previous UN efforts to merge the governments have failed. Sanctions would target leaders of both groups in an attempt to force them to the negotiating table. The unstable situation in Libya has become increasingly urgent as ISIS gains an increasingly strong foothold thanks to the political vacuum. France and other EU countries have expressed concerns that expelling ISIS, or even limiting its growth in Libya, will be impossible without a unity government. The creation of a unity government is a precondition to any military intervention or aid against ISIS from the EU. Tentative talks on UN sanctions quickly broke down in the Security Council.

Read More

March 29, 2016

By Victoria Hines

In January 2013, the Champagne Bureau, a lobbying organization based in Washington, criticized the Obama administration’s decision to list “Korbel Natural Russian River Valley Champagne” on the menu of the inauguration dinner. To them, Champagne is characteristic of Champagne, France, and thus California wineries are mislabeling their wines by using the Champagne label. 117 countries are sympathetic to this sentiment, and protect the Champagne name, while the U.S. allows the label to be used by wine produced outside the Champagne region. Several agreements, including the WTO’s TRIPS Agreement, have included increased protections for geographical indicators of various products over the past two decades, yet the U.S. has consistently failed to follow suit in offering its own protections. However, the U.S. may now be more willing to protect such geographical indicators not only for wine, but also for other food products, such as feta cheese and Darjeeling tea.

Read More

September 10, 2015

By Rick Mendenhall

Two years ago, the EU passed a resolution to harmonize the conflict-of-law rules governing inheritance across the European Union. The hope was to simplify the conflict-of-law procedure so that each jurisdiction knew which nation’s rules applied without jeopardizing the substantive law. In addition, the EU re-forged the rules of evidence governing inheritance to further standardize this area of law. This August, that resolution comes into effect.

To learn about the intricacies and the effects of this resolution, please join American University’s Washington College of Law on March 25^th when they host a panel on EU regulation 650/2012. Speakers hail from France, and should provide an instructive discussion.

Read More

April 03, 2015

By Sam Willie

A new American Chamber of Commerce survey reflects growing irritation amongst those looking to make foreign direct investment (FDI) in France. In particular, some respondents highlighted concerns regarding: the cost of labor, the corporate-tax regime, the economic environment, the social climate, including political instability and strikes, and the quality of the workforce. As a result and not too surprisingly, investors are turning to Britain and Germany to make FDI. At a time when competition for job-creating FDI is fierce, the sentiments echoed in the survey results should come as worrying news for French PM François Hollande.

Read More

November 17, 2014

By Catherine Kent

Reuters reported on Sunday that Germany and France are secretly discussing a deal that would allow the European Commission to approve Paris’s draft 2015 budget, despite the budget exceeding European Union debt limits. The agreement sets a blueprint for France to reduce its deficit and undergo structural reform. This deal is important to Germany, because it would avert a clash between two of the Commission’s prominent players, and foster German-French relations.

If this draft works, Germany will oppose any sanctions that the European Commission proposes and France will side-step the EU’s austerity measures. On Wednesday,  France will propose its rule-defying draft in Brussels, and face the grim possibility of fines if the draft is rejected.

Read More

October 31, 2014

By Courtney Cox

The quote, “The sins of the father are to be laid upon the children” is an apt description of the Duvalier reign in Haiti. The Duvaliers (‘Papa Doc’ and later ‘Baby Doc’) presided over one of the most oppressive governments in the Western Hemisphere.

Historically, Haiti was the ‘Pearl of the Antilles,’ largely deriving its wealth for the métropole from sugar cane production, an industry governed by black codes and accomplished by slave labor. After over a century of French colonial exploitation, the power shifted to the oppressed. In 1804, a successful slave revolution culminated in the first black republic. One can only imagine the degree of deliverance and optimism that permeated the new island nation.

The joy that accompanied this unprecedented victory was short lived, however. The world’s first black republic has been subsequently plagued by post-colonial exploitation and ruthless dictators (often serving as Western controlled puppets). With the recent death of one of these tyrants, Baby Doc, an assessment of his human rights legacy in Haiti seems timely.

Read More

October 28, 2014

By Matt Klinger

In late February, Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin was elected to serve as the new chairwoman of the European Union's Article 29 Working Party, a group that plays an advisory role on data protection issues to both the European Commission and to the E.U. member states.  

Falque-Pierrotin will face two major challenges in her new role: transitioning the E.U. to a new data protection regulation that likely will be implemented in the coming months and promoting international cooperation between data protection authorities. 

In addition to serving a two year term as head of the Working Party, Falque-Pierrotin will continue to serve as the Chairwoman of the French Data Protection Authority (CNIL), a post she has held since 2011.  

Earlier this year the CNIL handed down its highest financial penalty ever when it sanctioned Google 150,000 euros for violating several provisions of the French Data Protection Act.  

Read More

March 05, 2014

A child at his bombed out family home in Syria. FreedomHouse. 

By Stephen Kozey

A year ago, President Obama said that if the Syrian government used chemical weapons against its own people, it would cross a “red line.” That red line has been crossed, with recent reports confirming the use of sarin nerve agent and estimating between 300 and 1,300 casualties, including women and children. The U.N. Security Council has responded to the situation by adopting Resolution 2118. This resolution strongly condemns the chemical attack and requires Syria to forfeit and destroy its chemical weapons stockpile, as well as its means of production and delivery of chemical weapons.

International law prohibits the use of chemical weapons, but doesn’t permit military intervention in another country on that basis alone. Military intervention in another country is justified only in the case of self defense or when there is a U.N. Security Council Resolution authorizing the intervention. The conflict in Syria, however, has remained an internal one and has not yet posed a substantial security threat to neighboring countries. Moreover, Russia and China have consistently vetoed any resolution even hinting at the possibility of intervention. It does not appear that the use of chemical weapons has caused these veto-wielders to change their view, so there is little chance of a legally justifiable intervention as things stand today.

But is the prohibition on the use of chemical weapons the only legal argument that the pro-intervention members of the U.N. Security Council (namely France, the United Kingdom, and the United States) can use to try to sway Russia and China? What about Responsibility to Protect (R2P) as adopted in the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document?

Read More

October 16, 2013