Conference at University of Gothenburg, 16–17 December 2021
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
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
Mostly Harmless: The Role of the Referring Court in the Preliminary Reference Procedure
Anna Wallerman Ghavanini, University of Gothenburg
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
The CJEU and the French Administrative Supreme Court: Je t’aime, moi non plus? A Study in Judicial Diplomacy
Araceli Turmo, University of Nantes
Jurisdictional dialogue between national constitutional judges and EU judges: opportunity for a reversed preliminary reference?
Ilaria Ottaviano, University “G. D’Annunzio” of Chieti-Pescara
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
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
The CJEU as the Gatekeeper of International Law: The Cases of WTO Law and the Aarhus Convention
Ioanna Hadjiyianni, University of Cyprus
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
The Gender of Litigants before the CJEU and its Influence on Judicial Decision-Making
Konstantinos Alexandris Polomarkakis, University of Exeter
‘Structured Replies?’ Predicting Outcomes in the Mechanism for a Preliminary Ruling
Lucía Lopez Zurita, iCourts University of Copenhagen
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
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
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
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
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
12.15-12.30 Concluding remarks by the organiser
12.30- Lunch (by invitation only)