European Court of Justice: Advocate General voices criticism of Polish judicial reform
In a recently published opinion, Advocate General Tanchev of the ECJ expressed concerns regarding the appointment of judges to the newly established Disciplinary Chamber of the Polish Supreme Court. According to the opinion, the Disciplinary Chamber does not satisfy the requirements of judicial independence under EU law due to national legislative authorities playing a key role in the election of the 15 judicial members of the National Council of the Judiciary (NCJ), the body playing a primary role in the appointment of judges to the Disciplinary Chamber. Read more.. (Daniel Szilágyi)
In what seems like the final resolution of the dispute between the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the government about the future of the Academy’s research network, the government has announced its plans to unilaterally move all the research units in question under a new public institution with a 13-member governing board comprised of six government and six academy delegates and a chairman appointed by the Prime Minister. 
The embattled firm has navigated through a number of legal challenges and regulatory disputes in various countries. 
In a recent set of judgments, the Court of Justice of the European Union established that the principle of ne bis in idem may be limited for the purpose of protecting the financial interests of the EU and the financial markets thereof, as long as such a limitation does not exceed what is strictly necessary to achieve these objectives. The legal principle, recognized both by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and by the European Convention on Human Rights, states that a person cannot be criminally prosecuted or punished twice for the same offence. 
Social media giants Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ released on February 15 their new terms of service, which are designed to better align with EU consumer protection rules. The changes have been greeted with enthusiasm in Brussels, but still fall short of fully complying with the European Union’s strict regulations.