CELS & HRDF Guest Speaker Seminar - Prof Fernanda Nicola - Anti-authoritarian Dialogue of the European Court of Justice

You are kindly invited to the next guest speaker research seminar of the Centre for European Legal Studies (CELS), co-hosted with the Human Rights and Democracy Forum (HRDF), which will take place on Wednesday 14 December, at 3.15-4.15pm on Zoom. You do not have to be CELS or HRDF members to join. Undergraduate, Postgraduate and PhD students are also welcome to attend.

In this seminar Professor Fernanda Nicola (American University Washington College of Law) will present to us her paper: 'The Anti-authoritarian Dialogue of the European Court Of Justice: Re-politicization and Self-doubt.' Professor Nicola will be joined by Mr Michał Wawrykiewicz, who will act as discussant. Mr Wawrykiewicz is a Polish political analyst, activist, and attorney specializing in constitutional law, human rights law, and European law, and was involved in litigating the cases on behalf of the Polish judges before the ECJ and the ECtHR. 

Abstract:
This article traces the evolution of the anti-authoritarian dialogue in three different phases in which European institutions are using EU law to confront authoritarian regimes. During a first phase, the rule of law discussion revolved around Article 7 TEU, this included legal and political tools that achieved very little results in curbing the authoritarian regimes emerging within the Union. A second phase, marked by the introduction of the “Rule of Law Framework,” led to a central role played by the ECJ through its dialogue with domestic courts and the Polish government, achieving mixed results. Finally in the last phase, through the implementation of the conditionality regulation on the EU budget this led to the re-politicization of the judicial dialogue by fully involving other EU institutions in the suspensions of funds to authoritarian governments inside the Union. The re-politicization of the anti-authoritarian dialogue led the Court to seek the Commission’s intervention vis à vis Poland. In creating new coalitions with domestic courts and other EU institutions this article shows the relevance of the ECJ in protecting the rule of law and the judicial independence of national judiciaries, but by the same token, it forces the gaze inwards towards the Court itself as a truly independent actor.

Time: Dec 14, 2022 03:15 PM London

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