The Faculty of Law of the University of Luxembourg is pleased to present the seminar held by Prof. Oliver Gerstenberg.
Abstract:
What is—and what should be—the role of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) in promoting and upholding the rule of law (“RoL”) in the EU? This paper argues that the core framework values expressed in Art. 2 TEU serve as an overarching EU principle of legitimacy: only claims to national identity that reflect—are interpretively continuous with—the framework values of Art. 2 TEU deserve “respect” under Art. 4 (2) TEU. In this way, the EU constitutionalism does not displace Member States, but instead actually preserves their specific identities if, but only if, those identities are respect-worthy in the light of mutually shared values of liberal constitutional democracy expressed in Art. 2 TEU. This paper explores this argument with two case constellations in mind: first, cases on the protection of judicial independence, second, cases on same-sex parenthood. The paper argues that the CJEU can exert a socially modernizing role when “modern” and “traditional” values are in conflict and that the CJEU can serve democracy by enlarging traditional understandings of national identity in the light of what history and shared EU values command, but that this modernizing role also requires a thin conception of the EU RoL.
About Prof. Oliver Gerstenberg:
Oliver Gerstenberg teaches EU law and Jurisprudence at UCL LAWS, currently as Associate Professor. He is also Member of the Project Team on the European Law Institute (Vienna) on Fundamental Constitutional Principles of a European Democracy. In the past, he has held a JF Kennedy Fellowship at the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies at Harvard and a Law-and-Public-Affairs Fellowship at Princeton.
Among his recent publications are
- “Euroconstitutionalism and Its Discontents (Oxford Constitutional Theory Series: 2018);
- Fundamental Rights and Democratic Sovereignty in the EU: The Role of the Charter of Fundamental Rights in Regulating the European Social Market Economy, Yearbook of European Law (vol. 39: 2020, pp. 199—227);
- The uncertain structure of process review in the EU: beyond the debate on the CJEU’s Weiss ruling and the German Federal Constitutional Court’s PSPP ruling. Jus Cogens; Horizontal Effect. In R. Bellamy, & J. King (Eds.), Cambridge Handbook of Constitutional Theory. Cambridge University Press (2024);
- The Constitution as a Law of Lawmaking. Reflections on Frank Michelman’s Constitutional Essentials, in: Philosophy and Social Criticism (forthcoming 2024).
This is a hybrid event that offers both in-person and virtual attendance options.
Location:
- Online: https://unilu.webex.com/unilu/j.php?MTID=mba4852b28d2965bf8e598e198e17cd3b
- In person: University of Luxembourg | Campus Kirchberg – Weicker Building | Room B001 (Ground floor)
Language: English
This is a free seminar. Registration is mandatory.