SUMMARY: 1. Introduction: preliminary remarks and aims of the contribution. – 2. The data protection provisions included in previous EU international agreements. – 3. The shortcomings of the provisions included in previous EU international agreements. – 4. The 2018 Horizontal provisions, endorsed by the Commission to be inserted in subsequent agreements. – 5. Some negative examples of the implementation of the Horizontal provisions: the EU-UK TCA and the EU-Japan deal on data flows. – 6. The EU-Chile ITA as a positive example of the implementation of the Horizontal provisions. – 7. Concluding remarks on the influence of the EU position on privacy and personal data protection.

ABSTRACT – This contribution considers Regulation (EU) 2024/3005 on the transparency and integrity of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) rating activities, which addresses a regulatory gap in a fast-expanding sector of growing significance for the capital markets. It sets out the key elements of the new framework, starting with the introduction of a harmonised definition of “ESG rating”. It describes the authorisation regimes to which entities wishing to professionally engage in ESG rating activities within the Union are subject to. The contribution pays particular attention to the regulation’s requirements designed to ensuring transparency, reliability and independence in carrying out these activities, as well as the introduction of a continuous supervisory mechanism, entrusted to the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). Finally, the regulation is analysed as a tool not only to ensure the transparency and integrity of ESG ratings within the Union but also as a means to steer the allocation of capital, irrespective of its geographical origin, towards activities aligned with the Union’s Green Deal and sustainability (particularly environmental) objectives.

ABSTRACT – The contribution examines the ruling handed down on the 28th of January 2025 in case C-253/23, ASG 2, in which the ECJ stated the duty incumbent to national judges to grant admissibility to collective actions for damages whenever they amount to the only effective remedy to ensure the right to full compensation. After a brief presentation of the normative framework, the piece illustrates the Conclusions of the Advocate General and the Court’s findings.

ABSTRACT – The aim of this article is to comment the recent judgments of the Court of Justice in cases C-808/21 and C-814/21 with a view to highlight the link between the (effectiveness of the) right to stand for election under Art. 22 TFEU, the (im)possibility to become a member of a political party under national law and the duty to respect national identity pursuant to Art. 4(2) TEU. As will be seen, these cases confirm the importance that the Luxembourg judges attach to the rights of EU citizens and their effectiveness.

ABSTRACT – Article 5 NATO is much more considered and known in the literature and practice than art. 42, par. 7, TEU on the subject of mutual defense. In particular, the immediate effectiveness of Article 42(7) TEU has been questioned, for some time and even recently, thus contending that it may be conditional upon the potential implementation of a common European defense. In reality, Article 42(7) TEU is already fully binding on the Member States of the European Union uti singuli, even though its concrete operativity is subordinated legally and operationally to the imperative “NATO first”.