Event

European Union law and values in a changing world

  • Location

    Chamber of Commerce & LCEL

    2721, Luxembourg, Luxembourg

  • Topic(s)
    EU Law
  • Type(s)
    Conferences, Free of charge, In-person event

Inaugural conference of the Luxembourg Centre for European Law

The inaugural conference of the Luxembourg Centre for European Law (LCEL) will provide a forum for the discussion of the meaning and role of EU values in contemporary Europe and beyond. In recent years, Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) has acquired wide resonance in EU law, both in academic and institutional circles. Crucially, it has given rise to some of the most important judgments ever delivered by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).  

The conference brings together distinguished speakers to provide a political, judicial, institutional, and scholarly perspective of EU values and of their possible role in shaping EU law and integration. From the prism of EU values, it seeks to assess some of the key challenges facing the EU and, more broadly, Europe, and the role of law and the courts in confronting them. The conference will include, among others, keynote speeches by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of the Hellenic Republic, the President of the Court of Justice of the EU, the President of the General Court of the EU. It will also feature addresses by members of national supreme courts and academics.  

The conference thus reflects the mission and remit of the Centre. Its mission is to engage in cutting edge scholarly research which addresses contemporary societal problems, foster the study of European law, and contribute to its development. It pursues research excellence and aspires to be one of the leading transnational hubs for the study of European law in the world. The Centre has a global outlook and its targeted audience are academic scholars, policy makers, courts, legal practitioners, and the civil society. 

The remit of the Centre encompasses all aspects of European law, including, as priority areas, EU constitutional law, judicial protection, and EU governance; geopolitics and the EU´s external relations; nature and sustainability; the regulation of digital markets and artificial intelligence; Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and financial regulation. 

10 October 2025 at the Chamber of Commerce, Luxembourg

  • 8.30 – 09.00

    Registration & welcome coffee

  • 9.00 – 9.30

    Welcome addresses

    • Professor Jens Kreisel (Rector, University of Luxembourg)
    • Professor Takis Tridimas (Director, Luxembourg Centre for European Law, University of Luxembourg)
    • Professor Dirk Zetzsche (Head of the Department of Law, Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance, University of Luxembourg)
    • Stéphanie Obertin (Minister for Research and Higher Education, The Luxembourg Government)
    • Elisabeth Margue (Minister of Justice, The Luxembourg Government) – tbc

  • 9.30 – 11.00

    Keynote speeches

    • George Gerapetritis (Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of the Hellenic Republic)
    • Koen Lenaerts (President, Court of Justice of the European Union)

  • 11.00 – 11.30

    Break

  • 11.30 – 13.00

    European values and the Court of Justice
    Chair: Judge Ben Smulders (Court of Justice of the European Union)

    European values and article 2 TEU: doctrinal and normative reflections
    Professor Paul Craig (University of Oxford)

    The Court’s use of the values in shaping EU legislative competences
    Professor Bruno de Witte (European University Institute and University of Maastricht)

    Values and interests in EU external action: two perspectives from the Front Polisario cases
    Professor Marise Cremona (European University Institute)

  • 13.00 – 14.00

    Lunch

  • 14.00 – 15.30

    European values: A view from the judiciary 
    Chair: Advocate General Laila Medina (Advocate General, Court of Justice of the European Union)

    The Right Hon Lady Rose of Colmworth (The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom)

    European values and national constitutional courts 
    Judge Francesco Viganò (The Constitutional Court of Italy)

    Rule of law : a meta-principle?
    Judge Francis Delaporte (Vice President of the Constitutional Court of Luxembourg)

    Judicial independence, cornerstone and tangible manifestation of the rule of law  
    Marko Bošnjak (Court of Justice of the European Union and Former President, European Court of Human Rights)

    Géraud Sajust de Bergues (Conseiller d´Etat, France)

  • 15.30 – 16.00

    Break

  • 16.00 – 17.30

    European values and democracy
    Chair: Krystyna Kowalik-Bańczyk (President of the Seventh Chamber, General Court of the European Union)

    The emergence of European society through EU law 
    Professor Armin Bogdandy (Director, Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law)

    EU values, mutual trust, and the changing role of the CJEU 
    Professor Oliver Gerstenberg (University College London)

    European values and democracy: uncomfortable bedfellows? 
    Dr Martijn van den Brink (Assistant Professor in EU law, Europa Institute, Leiden University)

11 October 2025 at the Luxembourg Centre for European Law

  • 8.30 – 9.00

    Registration & welcome coffee

  • 9.00 – 9.30

    Keynote speech
    Chair: Professor Herwig C.H. Hofmann (Professor of European and Transnational Public Law, Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance, University of Luxembourg)

    Marc Van der Woude (President, General Court of the European Union)

  • 9.30 – 10.30

    European values: a view from the institutions
    Chair: François Biltgen (President of the First Chamber, Court of Justice of the European Union)

    How to balance between democracy and the rule of law within the judiciary, illuminated from a values perspective
    Professor Miranda de Meijer (European Prosecutor)

    Daniel Calleja Crespo (Director-General, The Legal Service, The European Commission) – tbc

    Eugenia Dumitriu-Segnana (Director, Legal Service of the Council of the European Union)

    Freddy Drexler (The Jurisconsult of the European Parliament) – tbc

  • 10.30 – 11.00

    Break

  • 11.00 – 11.30

    European values and private law
    Chair: Professor Herwig C.H. Hofmann (Professor of European and Transnational Public Law, Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance, University of Luxembourg)

    Professor Maciej Szpunar (First Advocate General, Court of Justice of the European Union)

    EU values and EU social law
    Professor Catherine Barnard (University of Cambridge)

    Professor Hans Micklitz (European University Institute, Florence)

  • 11.30 – 12.30

    Values, principles and rights
    Chair: Professor Eleftheria Neframi (Professor of European Union Law, Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance, University of Luxembourg)

    Professor Elise Muir (Vice Dean for Research, Head of the Institute for European Law of the KU Leuven) 

    Professor Joana Mendes (Professor in European Public Law, Luxembourg Centre for European Law, University of Luxembourg)

    Professor Takis Tridimas (Director, Luxembourg Centre for European Law, University of Luxembourg)

    Professor Vicky Kosta (Associate Professor, Leiden University)

  • 12.30 – 12.45

    Closing Remarks

    Advocate General Andrea Biondi (Advocate General, Court of Justice of the European Union)

  • 12.45 – 13.45

    Lunch

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