@emiliakorkeaaho
Professor at University of Eastern Finland, PI of Finnish Academy project REVOLVE and Kone project LoSKa. Docent at University of Helsinki. EU (soft) law and governance, lobbying, revolving door. www.emiliakorkea-aho.eu
🇪🇺 mini-scoop! 🇪🇺
The EU's watchdog is probing whether the European Commission acted secretively in its dealings with industry before launching a series of business-friendly initiatives
www.politico.eu/article/ombu...
This has become a major problem. The Commission's genius move was to pretend to be more transparent - proactively publishing minutes of meetings with lobbyists since January - but in reality most of these minutes are meaningless. One I found literally says "discussion about general topics".
The EU Commission justified its refusal to share the documents by admitting it is worried that it will not be able to withstand the “unnecessary pressure from stakeholders” ‒ in other words, the lobbying ‒ that could result from the documents’ release.
Hei tutkija! Ovatko huolet akateemisen vapauden kaventumisesta mielestäsi liioiteltuja? Vai onko Suomessa tosiaankin syytä olla huolissaan tietopohjan rapautumisesta? Se selviää alkuvuodesta 2026, kunhan nyt ensin vastaat Tiedonjulkistamisen neuvottelukunnan kyselyyn: kysely.tsv.fi/index.php/15...
🏛️ @lolaavril.bsky.social "& @emiliakorkeaaho.bsky.social Administration as usual? Revolving doors and the quiet regulation of political ethics" 🖇️ www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Do register-based research? 🔎 #FIRE Fellowships offer 1–2 month visits to Finland for postdocs & senior researchers.
Apply now 👉
fire-infra.com/en/fire-visi...
@utu.fi @stat.fi @aalto.fi #TampereUniversity @helsinki.fi @uniuef.bsky.social @uniofjyvaskyla.bsky.social @vatt-tutkimus.bsky.social
Published today @europeanlawopen.bsky.social : this piece co-authored with @koenvanzon.bsky.social on 'societal mobilisation' of EU law through an instrument you'd not immediately think of as very 'societal': infringement proceedings
Just out at JOP (www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/epdf/10....) : Why do so few working-class people hold office? It's not lack of interest. Noam Lupu and I ran 10 surveys in 8 countries and found no evidence of a social class gap in how often qualified people consider running.
Please share widely! Great #PostDoc opportunity at one of Australia's top #PoliticalScience departments, on a #FutureFellowship on electoral resilience. 3yrs, great pay, and a workplace practically next to the Great Barrier Reef!
Closing date is 1 Oct 2025
jobs.smartrecruiters.com/GriffithUniv...
Judicial associations/judicial independence - new article of interest exploring 'the role of judicial associations in promoting and upholding judicial independence'
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
I’ve set up a group on LinkedIn for retired academics (any discipline) who are still research / scholarship active and would like to discuss their work with others in a supportive space. It’s called Retired Academics.
If you’re on LinkedIn, and are retired, and academic, why not join?
#AcademicSky
Attention:
EU Commission call for "feedback on future environmental legislation simplification, launched by 22.7, closing 10.9 (!).
Noting that "simplification" is the EU word for "deregulation", inputs from science would seem important.
environment.ec.europa.eu/news/feedbac...
People sitting in the garden eating.
People standing in front of an apartment building.
Today our house celebrated its 70th anniversary, and the board of our condominium had organised a lovely garden party to mark the occasion (thanks!). 🥂 One occupant has lived here from the very beginning, so practically all her life. The word ‘community’ was often heard. 🙏🏻
Crayfish.
In Finland and in Sweden, summer ends with lots of crayfish, dill and schnapps. Autumn is here.
New article out in @jei-publication.bsky.social. @luigilonardo.bsky.social and I show how the EU has adopted a special procedure for sanctions involving Russia, investigating also how private interests and third countries can influence EU sanctions decision-making.
I had a good chat with EU Influence’s #MariEccles on the proposed foreign lobbying rules. The EU clearly wants to join other major political powers (US, AUS, CAN, UK) in regulating foreign lobbying, but Member States are divided.
Yellow wooden house in Loviisa.
Last weekend our house participated in the annual #LoviisaHistoricalHouses weekend. Despite the house being far from finished, we welcomed several hundreds of curious visitors and had lovely discussions with other fans of old houses. Next year again! #olosenpapantalo #LWT
The US has effectively ended any meaningful government role in addressing the foreign interference threat, meaning everyone's safe now from that supposed deep-state plot to deplatform conservative voices 😵💫
The European Parliament will limit the access of journalists, lobbyists and diplomats to its premises starting next week.
The former president of the European Commission still holds office at his old headquarters, where he regularly receives prominent guests. According to the Kazakh government, he also offered help as go-between. Jean-Claude Juncker himself denies this, claiming that he is “immune” to influence.
Huomasitko tämän? Vanha vaalirahalaki rajoitti tarkkaan viranomaisten valtuuksia tutkia epäiltyjä väärinkäytöksiä, eikä uusi - heinäkuussa voimaan tullut laki - laajenna viranomaisten valtuuksia lainkaan (€)
"Luvut tulevat olemaan brutaalit" @mustread.bsky.social www.mustread.fi/artikkelit/l...
Who was it that said switching to LNG would increase energy security? Oh yeah, the LNG lobby.
The EU now finds itself being blackmailed by Qatar - in addition to the US - over energy supplies if it doesn't weaken environmental protections. Expect more deregulation 😖
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Climate Change calls for a ban on fossil fuel lobbying.
Each failed attempt to address climate change lays bear the damaging political influence of the coal, oil and gas lobby.
It's time for #FossilFreePolitics.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
They. Are. Sanctuaries.
EU Member States and European Parliament agree to revised law on funding of European political parties and foundations - including rules on transparency and limits on foreign interference - www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/pre...
"Boomers without Borders" would be an amazing title for this paper.
Portugal quadrupled its number of foreign retirees by offering them 10 years of income tax-free retirement. Some countries (e.g., Finland) responded by taxing pensions at the source.
In case you missed this bit of good news 👏🏼⬇️
🚨🚨This bleak news from #Hungary on their new bill, "On the Transparency of Public Life"- which allows the Sovereignty Protection Office to blacklist organizations receiving foreign funding if it deems them a “threat” to national sovereignty- has been under-reported.🧵 www.politico.eu/article/vikt...
Nice to note just that my recent @jcms-eu.bsky.social article "Reconceptualising the Brussels Effect" is now Open Access. The article gives tools to grasp external efforts to derail the EU's global power, how these efforts evolve over time, and to what effect. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Missed this in the run-up to Easter. Sadly grim, but important reading.
'The UK’s largest accounting firms and consultancies have seen a slowdown in other corporate contracts and are increasingly offering their services to help universities get their finances in order. 1/3