The Department of Law of the University of Luxembourg and the Luxembourg Centre for European Law (LCEL) are inviting you to the conference supported by the Robert Schuman Initiative for European Affairs – Jean Monnet Center of Excellence (JMCE).

Abstract

Security in the European Union (EU) is an increasingly important question. While internal security has been central to the EU for a long time, traditionally, security as a matter of coercion and force has been a nation-state question or an international law matter. While security is often described as an essentially contested concept, it is largely undertheorized in EU law. In this paper, prof. Herlin-Karnell will scan the security concept and its various applications in EU law and argue that in recent times the security concept has become central to the future of EU integration. She will discuss whether the post-9/11 critique of security is readily transferable to the current state of play regarding the importance of security in Europe and the dangers of Russian aggression in Ukraine. Whereas the notions of security, coercion, and force may seem distant in the EU context, the use of sanctions, emergency legislation, and other security instruments challenges traditional boundaries of coercive power. The lecture will explore this question, providing a roadmap of security as a crucial aspect of contemporary EU integration, and highlighting how the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine has significantly upended the security notion in the EU.

About the speaker

Ester Herlin-Karnell is a Professor of EU Law at the University of Gothenburg. She was previously a Professor of EU Constitutional Law and Justice and held a University Research Chair at VU University Amsterdam. She has held visiting fellowships or been a visiting researcher at several universities, including New York University (Emile Noelle fellow), the University of Michigan, the European University Institute, Toronto University, the WZB Berlin, and Uppsala University. She holds degrees from Oxford University (DPhil), King’s College London (LLM), and Stockholm University (LLM). Her research interests include EU constitutional theory, EU sustainability, EU criminal law, Area of Freedom, Security, and Justice law, and EU market regulation. She has published extensively on these topics.

Language

English.

This is a free event. Registration is mandatory.

The conference will start at 12:30 with a light lunch.

In collaboration with

^{This conference is funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.}