30 March 2017
60 Years of Rome Treaties- 25 Years of Maastricht
Achievements and challenges of the EU as a community of law
The first presentation by Professor Peter-Christian Müller-Graff from the University of Heidelberg presented the EU as a Community of Law and highlighted the ingenuity of the concept of integration through law, even if not all members seem to share the same understanding of the relevance of law. Prof Lucia Serena Rossi from the University of Bologna then looked at the hierarchy of EU norms and their intertwining with the constitutional systems of the Member States, which has often been a bone of contention between the CJEU and national constitutional or supreme courts. Sir David Edward, former member of the Court of Justice of the European Union, examined the challenges to the rule of law by security measures, the balance of which has to defined by the democratic legislator. Finally María José Martínez Iglesias, director of legislative affairs of the Legal Service of the European Parliament, analysed the risks of an increasing proliferation of ‘Soft law’ instruments for the EU as a community of law.
Director Heusel moderated the round table discussion. An intense debate between the audience and among speakers followed. In his concluding remarks, the director of the European Parliament Research Service Anthony Teasdale praised the event as a successful start into further cooperation with ERA. This first joint event in the library of the European Parliament was attended by some 120 participants.
More information also at www.era25.eu