Breadcrumb

The EU Court of Justice as a Relational Actor

Research
Society and economy

Conference at University of Gothenburg, 16–17 December 2021

Conference
Date
16 Dec 2021 - 17 Dec 2021
Number of seats
15
Registration deadline
19 November 2021

Good to know
The conference will be held at the Wallenberg Conference Centre, Room Antarktis. The conference dinner for speakers, discussants and chairs will be held at restaurant Familjen.
Organizer
Department of Law
Registration is closed.

Live broadcast via GU Play

 

The EU Court of Justice as a Relational Actor

University of Gothenburg, 16–17 December 2021

The Court of Justice’s importance for the EU’s legal trajectory can hardly be overstated and the Court’s role and activity have rightly been subject to an abundance of research within both legal and political science. It is conventional wisdom that the Court has been a driver of European integration and EU legal development. The Court’s often presumed and sometimes demonstrated judicial activism has provided one of the key explanatory factors for many of its bolder decisions, and has become an established truth of both critical scholarship and public rhetoric about the Court. Indeed, one of its first and most well-known judges famously admitted to the Court having its own “certain idea of Europe”. 

However, courts in general – and the Court of Justice is no exception in this regard – are unable to drive developments in isolation, for the simple reason that courts do not have the power of initiation. The Court of Justice can only work with the cases that are brought before it. Moreover, while the difficulty associated with Treaty changes make the Court in some cases relatively insulated against legislative override, in many other aspects the Court is unusually dependent on the cooperation of other actors, notably national courts and enforcement agencies, for the effectiveness of its judgments. Both of these factors suggest that the Court ought to be conscious of its public image as well as its relations to other courts and institutions. 

Against this backdrop, the conference seeks to examine the Court as a relational actor. How does it relate to the institutions and persons to and with whom it speaks? 

Contact

For questions, please contact the convenor, associate professor Anna Wallerman Ghavanini. She can be reached by email: anna.ghavanini@law.gu.se.

Program

Thursday 16 December 2021

9.30-10.00       Registration and coffee

10.00-10.10     Word of welcome from the Head of the Law Department

10.10-10.15     Word of welcome from the organiser

10.15-11.30     Panel 1: The CJEU’s Relations with National Courts in the Preliminary Reference Procedure

Chair: Allison Östlund, University of Gothenburg
Panel discussant: Andreas Moberg, University of Gothenburg

The Persisting Rreluctance of Swedish Courts to Refer Cases to the CJEU. Is it Problematic and Why?
Ulf Bernitz, Stockholm University

https://play.gu.se/media/Ulf+Bernitz.mp4/0_jgkco05w

The ECJ's (lack of?) knowledge of the national legal and factual background in the preliminary ruling proceedings
Virginia Passalacqua, Utrecht University and Francesco Costamagna, University of Turin
https://play.gu.se/media/Virginia+Passalacqua.mp4/0_5yucwlyu

Mostly Harmless: The Role of the Referring Court in the Preliminary Reference Procedure
Anna Wallerman Ghavanini, University of Gothenburg
https://play.gu.se/media/Anna+W+Ghavanni.mp4/0_xqftpu38

11.30-12.00     Coffee break

12.00-13.15     Panel 2: The CJEU and the EU Legal Order

Chair: Hannes Lenk, SIEPS/Aarhus University
Panel discussant: Ester Herlin-Karnell, University of Gothenburg

The New Judicial Federalism in the EU
Jan Zglinski, London School of Economics
https://play.gu.se/media/Jan+Zglinski.mp4/0_t5ivsit3

The CJEU and the French Administrative Supreme Court: Je t’aime, moi non plus? A Study in Judicial Diplomacy 
Araceli Turmo, University of Nantes
https://play.gu.se/media/Araceli+Turmo.mp4/0_zfaztwaj

Jurisdictional dialogue between national constitutional judges and EU judges: opportunity for a reversed preliminary reference?  
Ilaria Ottaviano, University “G. D’Annunzio” of Chieti-Pescara 
https://play.gu.se/media/Illaria+Ottaviano.mp4/0_y8m5p4cj

13.15-14.15     Lunch

14.15-15.30     Panel 3: The CJEU as an Institutional Actor

Chair: Martin Westlund, University of Gothenburg
Panel discussant: Allison Östlund, University of Gothenburg

Losing in the Council to Better Win before the CJEU? Strategic Annulment Proceedings by EU Member States 
Chloé Brière, Université libre de Bruxelles
https://play.gu.se/media/Chloe+Briere.mp4/0_40hzk9c1

The CJEU and the epistemic power of economic actors in EU risk regulation. Promoting expert accountability or aggravating epistemic capture?  
Marta Morvillo, New York University and Maria Weimer, University of Amsterdam
https://play.gu.se/media/Marta+Morvillo.mp4/0_998a1jdo

The CJEU as the Gatekeeper of International Law: The Cases of WTO Law and the Aarhus Convention
Ioanna Hadjiyianni, University of Cyprus
https://play.gu.se/media/Ioanna+Hadjyianni.mp4/0_zrm5liyq

15.30-16.00     Coffee break

16.00-17.15     Panel 4: Individuals and the CJEU 

Chair: Anna W Ghavanini, University of Gothenburg
Panel discussant: Anna W Ghavanini, University of Gothenburg

The Court Cares about Justice in the Case: But Does it Care about Justice in Society?
Gareth Davies, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
https://play.gu.se/media/Gareth+Davies.mp4/0_www4d7s6

The Gender of Litigants before the CJEU and its Influence on Judicial Decision-Making
Konstantinos Alexandris Polomarkakis, University of Exeter
https://play.gu.se/media/Konstantinos+A+Polomarkakis.mp4/0_79q8k5ci
i

‘Structured Replies?’ Predicting Outcomes in the Mechanism for a Preliminary Ruling
Lucía Lopez Zurita, iCourts University of Copenhagen 
https://play.gu.se/media/Lucia+Lopez+Zurita.mp4/0_nri4wrck

19.00               Dinner (by invitation only) 

 

Friday 17 December 2021              

9.15-10.30       Panel 5: The CJEU and the Rule of Law

Chair: Andreas Moberg, University of Gothenburg
Panel discussant: Hannes Lenk, SIEPS/Aarhus University

The Anti-Authoritarian Dialogue of the CJEU
Fernanda G Nicola, Washington College of Law, American University
https://play.gu.se/media/Fernanda+Nicola.mp4/0_002o4mdt

Unintentional inspirations - the European Court of Justice’s response to the rule of law crisis in Poland and incremental autocratic legalism
Jonas Bornemann, University Konstanz
https://play.gu.se/media/Jonas+Borneman.mp4/0_mopgt1em

Claiming the Untenable – Common Defence Strategies of Member States in the Rule of Law Crisis at the European Court of Justice 
Niels Kirst, Dublin City University 
https://play.gu.se/media/Nils+Kirst.mp4/0_ynqndwwg

10.30-11.00     Coffee break

11.00-12.15     Panel 6: The CJEU as a Communicative Actor

Chair: Anna W Ghavanini, University of Gothenburg
Panel discussant: Erik Björling, University of Gothenburg

Comparing the European Court of Justice’s Academic and Political Critics
Gerard Conway, Brunel University London
https://play.gu.se/media/Gerard+Conway.mp4/0_6ka1dluw

CJEU Public Communication Between Compliance and Contestation
Olof Larsson, University of Gothenburg, and Julian Dederke, ETH Zürich

The Court of Justice of the European Union as a Media Actor: A Socio-Legal Study
Panu Minkkinen, University of Helsinki 
https://play.gu.se/media/Panu+Minkkinen.mp4/0_rxgrkqbr

12.15-12.30   Concluding remarks by the organiser 

12.30-              Lunch (by invitation only)