Congress

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Impressions of the ERA Jubilee Conference

Jacques Santer, President of the governing board and former President of the European Commission

Pauliine Koskelo, Judge at the European Court of Human Rights, Strasbourg

Pavel Telička, Vice-President of the European Parliament, Brussels

Wolfgang Heusel, Director of the Academy of European Law, Trier

Photos: Dominique Gaul

Joseph H.H. Weiler, Professor at the New York University School of Law

Koen Lenaerts, President of the Court of Justice of the EU, Luxembourg

Hans-Jürgen Hellwig, Partner at Hengeler Mueller, Frankfurt am Main

Federico Fabbrini, Professor at Dublin City University

Inger Österdahl, Professor at the University of Uppsala

Paul P. Craig, Professor at the University of Oxford

Chairs

  • Josef Azizi, former Judge at the General Court of the EU, Vienna
  • Wolfgang Heusel, Director of the Academy of European Law, Trier
  • Yves Kreins, Judge at the Administrative Tribunal of the International Labour Organization (ILO), Geneva
  • Peter-Christian Müller-Graff, Professor at the University of Heidelberg
  • Lord Tyre, Judge of the Supreme Courts of Scotland, Edinburgh
  • Marc van der Woude, Vice-President of the General Court of the EU, Luxembourg

Speakers

  • Paul P. Craig, Professor at the University of Oxford
  • Federico Fabbrini, Professor at Dublin City University
  • Hans-Jürgen Hellwig, Partner at Hengeler Mueller, Frankfurt am Main
  • Koen Lenaerts, President of the Court of Justice of the EU, Luxembourg
  • Inger Österdahl, Professor at the University of Uppsala
  • Jacques Santer, President of the Governing Board of the Academy of European Law, Luxembourg
  • Pavel Telička, Vice-President of the European Parliament, Brussels
  • Joseph H.H. Weiler, Professor at the New York University School of Law

Panellists

  • Gerolf Annemans MEP, Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, European Parliament, Brussels
  • Karen Banks, Deputy Director-General at the Legal Service of the European Commission, Brussels
  • Katarina Barley, Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth; Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, Berlin
  • Bojan Bugarič, Professor at the University of Ljubljana
  • Christopher P. Buttigieg, Lecturer in the Banking and Finance Department of the University of Malta
  • Pierre-Henri Conac, Professor at the University of Luxembourg
  • Emmanuel Crabit, Head of Unit, Justice Policy and Rule of Law, DG JUST, European Commission, Brussels
  • Wiebe de Vries, President of the International Association of Young Lawyers (AIJA), Amsterdam
  • Lars Hjortnæs, Judge at the Danish Supreme Court, Copenhagen
  • Sophie In ’t Veld MEP, Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, European Parliament, Brussels
  • Bernd Kaltenhäuser, President of the Deutsche Bundesbank Regional Administration for Rhineland-Palatinate and the Saar, Mainz
  • Pauliine Koskelo, Judge at the European Court of Human Rights, Strasbourg
  • Francis Lamy, Member of the Council of State, Paris
  • Giorgio Maganza, former Director at the Legal Service of the Council of the EU, Brussels
  • Joaquim Nunes de Almeida, Director for Single Market Policy, Regulation and Implementation, DG GROWTH, European Commission, Brussels
  • Luis Ortiz Blanco, Partner at Garrigues, Madrid
  • Maria José Rangel de Mesquita, Judge at the Portuguese Constitutional Court, Lisbon
  • Jean-Luc Sauron, Member of the Council of State, Paris
  • Jean-Marc Sauvé, Vice-President of the Council of State, Paris
  • Ludger Schuknecht, Chief economist and Head of Department at the Federal Ministry of Finance, Berlin
  • Pedro Silva Pereira MEP, Vice-Chair, Committee on Constitutional Affairs, European Parliament, Brussels
  • Imola Streho, Affiliate Professor at Sciences Po Law School, Paris
  • Maciej Szpunar, Advocate General at the Court of Justice of the EU, Luxembourg
  • Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, London
  • Christian Verschueren, Director-General of EuroCommerce, Brussels
  • Diana Wallis, former Vice-President of the European Parliament, Hull

Click here for the pdf version of the congress programme.

The authority of EU law — do we still believe in it?

TRIER, THURSDAY, 19 OCTOBER 2017

13:00Registration of participants

Plenary session
Languages: English, French and German (with simultaneous interpretation)

13:45 Opening ceremony — Introductory speeches — Musical entertainment

  • Jacques Santer
  • Pauliine Koskelo
  • Pavel Telička
  • Wolfgang Heusel

Chair: Josef Azizi

14:30 Inaugural lecture:

What is the “authority” of the law? Compliance and acceptance as preconditions or as constitutive elements?

Joseph H.H. Weiler

Discussion

PART 1: Law-making and the role of courts

15:00 The Court of Justice of the European Union as the guardian of the authority of EU law – a networking exercise?

Koen Lenaerts

15:30 Panel discussion:

The impact of legislation on the authority of EU law

  • the lack of legitimacy and of transparency in the making of the law (role of lobbyists, comitology, etc)
  • the ineffectiveness of the subsidiarity principle
  • the poor quality of legislation
  • Karen Banks
  • Giorgio Maganza
  • Diana Wallis

Chair: Lord Tyre

16:30   Break

17:00 Panel discussion:

The authority of EU law — a view from Constitutional and Supreme Courts

  • “ultra vires” risks and the role of the CJEU: Aranyosi, Mangold, Kücükdevici, Pereda and the annual leave practice in Denmark, non-application of Ajos by Højesteret, attacks on the CJEU in Brexit debate
  • interpreting the national identity clause (Art 4 II TEU)
  • ineffectiveness of the subsidiarity principle (Art 5 I 2 TEU & Prot 2)
  • Lars Hjortnæs
  • Jean-Marc Sauvé
  • Maciej Szpunar
  • Lord Thomas

18:30End of the first day

20:00Reception (ERA Conference Centre)

TRIER, FRIDAY, 20 OCTOBER 2017

PART 2: Current challenges regarding compliance with and enforcement of EU law — the authority of EU law at risk

Parallel working sessions: Topic A, Topic B, Topic C

Topic A:
Remaining and new obstacles to the single market rules — does the economic crisis justify a weakening of the authority of EU law?
Language: English

Chair: Marc van der Woude

9:30 Keynote address:

Reliability and enforcement of EU law — a necessity for citizens, businesses and the law itself

Hans-Jürgen Hellwig

10:30 Break

11:00 Panel discussion:

Challenges to the Single Market

  • Member States՚ measures aimed at protecting national markets after the crisis
  • Examples of obstacles incurred by industry within the Single Market
  • The relevance of infringement procedures — the European Commission between guarding the Treaties and political discretion
  • Joaquim Nunes de Almeida
  • Luis Ortiz Blanco
  • Imola Streho
  • Christian Verschueren

13:00 Lunch

Topic B:
Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) as an illustration of “the incomplete Union” — the authority of EU law stuck half-way between supranational and national sovereignty
Languages: English and German (with simultaneous interpretation)

Chair: Peter-Christian Müller-Graff

9:30 Keynote address:

Completing vs. rethinking the EMU?

Federico Fabbrini

10:30 Break

11:00 Panel discussion:

The need to complete the EMU

  • The incomplete EMU: a dilemma of federalisation versus dissolution?
  • Handling the Euro crisis in and outside the EU framework
  • Questioning the legitimacy of the rules and the selectivity of their application
  • Gerolf Annemans
  • Christopher P. Buttigieg
  • Pierre-Henri Conac
  • Bernd Kaltenhäuser

13:00 Lunch

Topic C:
Current threats to the rule of law in the EU — the foundation on which the authority of EU law rests
 Languages: English and French (with simultaneous interpretation)

Chair: Yves Kreins

9:30 Keynote address:

Article 7 TEU and the Rule of Law mechanism — a dissuasive weapon or a paper tiger?

Inger Österdahl

10:30 Break

11:00 Panel discussion:

The rule of law crisis in the EU and beyond

  • Threats to democratic values in member states and candidate countries
  • The core concept of an independent judiciary
  • Terrorist attacks and state of emergency
  • Bojan Bugarič
  • Emmanuel Crabit
  • Sophie in ՚t Veld
  • Pauliine Koskelo Francis Lamy
  • Maria José Rangel de Mesquita

13:00 Lunch

Plenary Session
 Languages: English, French and German (with simultaneous interpretation)

PART 3: The crisis of the European project undermining the authority of EU law — the EU in search of legitimacy

Chair: Wolfgang Heusel

14:30Keynote address:

Brexit — symptom of the EU’s legitimacy crisis or just a British problem?

Paul P. Craig

Panel discussion:

The crisis of the European project

  • Reflecting on the legitimacy deficit of an elite project
  • Which scenarios for the future of Europe (focus on the European Commission’s White Paper)?
  • The “ever closer Union” or “United in diversity” — what should be the finality for the EU?
  • Katarina Barley
  • Wiebe de Vries
  • Jean-Luc Sauron
  • Ludger Schuknecht
  • Pedro Silva Pereira

17:00 End of Congress

19:15 Departure of coaches (from the hotels Park Plaza, Ibis Styles, Penta/Deutscher Hof, and from ERA)

19:30Gala Dinner