CfP: Doctoral Workshop on “The EU’s Response to Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine – International and European Perspectives”

As part of a conference organised on 22 and 23 June by the European Society of International Law Interest Group ‘EU as a Global Actor’ supported by the University of Leiden (Europa Institute and EU Hub/Ukraine Hub), KU Leuven (Institute for European Law) and City Law School, City, University of London, the conveners are holding a doctoral workshop on the morning of 22 June open to doctoral researchers in law and in international relations at different stages of their research on “The EU’s Response to Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine: International and European Perspectives“.

Rather than discussing the illegality of Russia’s invasion, we welcome papers focusing on current and future legal and political developments. Specifically, contributions are welcome on the following topics:

• The day after the war – reconstruction, development and justice for Ukraine
• Prosecution of crimes of aggression against Ukraine
• The EU’s political support and financial, humanitarian and military assistance to Ukraine
• EU restrictive measures
• Implications on EU Common Foreign and Security Policy, EU Security and Defence Policy, and the EU’s broader system of fundamental rights
• Proceedings before international courts (ICJ, ICC, ECtHR) and EU support
• EU measures to support refugees and victims
• EU measures to support Ukraine and horizontal issues of public international law (international responsibility, law of treaties, countermeasures)
• The EU’s role in a new geopolitical world order

The call for papers is available here.

Format & Output

The workshop will take place on Thursday, 22 June 2023, from 09h00 to 13h00. Selected contributors will be assigned a discussant from among the speakers and organisers of the conference of 22-23 June. Subject to peer-review, the organisers may invite selected doctoral researchers to submit their contributions to a symposium to be published in a blog such as Verfassungsblog and/or to develop their papers into chapters for an edited collection in a book series of the European Society of International Law (Oxford University Press). Selected participants are therefore expected to submit a draft paper of 1,500 to 2,500 by 9 June.

Deadline

The deadline for submitting abstracts is 23 April 2023. Abstracts should not exceed 500 words and should be sent, together with a brief CV, to Teresa Cabrita (teresa.cabrita@kuleuven.be).

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The EU as an actor shaping global security law: blueprint of international regulation, guardian of global security, or something else?

The ESIL interst group on the EU as a global actor – EUGLOBAL – is organising a side event on 30 March 2022 (Wednesday) in the framework of the 2022 ESIL Research Forum hosted by the University of Glasgow (general theme: “International Law and Global Security: Regulating an Illusion?”). It primarily targets legal scholars at an early stage of their careers.

The theme of the upcoming ESIL Research Forum revolves around the role of international law in maintaining and promoting ‘global security’ in its numerous dimensions. The forum aims to bring together a wide range of different approaches to global security law, with a view to attracting fresh ideas about the recalibration of contemporary approaches to global security law. EUGLOBAL will pick up this topic by focusing on the European Union’s (EU) normative action, notably under the CFSP/ESDP, to shape international legal rules relating to grand and emerging issues of global security as well as the EU’s declared function to contribute to international peace and security within the meaning of Chapter VIII of the United Nations Charter.

The EUGLOBAL acting as the organising committee for this side event therefore welcomes proposals for papers addressing mainly (but not limited to) the following themes:

• The role and relevance of the EU’s normative action in the global security legal discourse (in its various dimensions – both traditional and new security concerns);
• To what extent does EU law contribute to the trend of the ‘securitization’ of ever broader fields of international law?;
• The EU shaping global security law at different levels of regulation – thematic case studies;
• The EU’s Security and Defence Policy and its engagement with the international legal order: coherence or frictions?;
• The EU (and its Court of Justice) as a guardian of global security?; and
• Issues of international responsibility for EU military operations and the EU’s place in the global accountability regime.

EUGLOBAL invites submissions of abstracts, written in English or French, of no more than 600 words. Applications should be submitted to euglobalactor@gmail.com by 10 February 2022 (Thursday) 24:00h CET, with a short curriculum vitae containing the author’s name, institutional affiliation, contact information (e-mail and phone number), and whether the applicant is an ESIL member. Selected speakers will be notified on 15 February 2022 via e-mail.

For further details, click here to download the full Call for Papers.

The EU’s global role with respect to the principle of solidarity under international law: a quest for normativity?

On the margins of the 2021 ESIL Catania Research Forum ‘Solidarity: The Quest for Founding Utopias of International Law’, the EUGlobal Interest Group is organizing an online event entitled ‘The EU’s global role with respect to the principle of solidarity under international law: a quest for normativity?’ on 15 April 2021 at 10:00 to 12:30.

If you wish to take part in this EUGlobal side event, please register via the Research Forum registration platform. All registered participants will receive a link for the IG workshop in due time.

Programme summary:

10.00 – 10.10

Jed Odermatt (IG EUGLOBAL; City, University of London): Welcome and Introduction to the Workshop 

10:10 – 10.35

• Despoina Poutakidou (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki): “The quest for solidarity: Human rights provisions in European Union’s international trade agreements” 
• Discussant: Elaine Fahey (City, University of London)

10.35 – 11.00

• Elisabet Ruiz Cairò (Université de Genève): “The principle of solidarity in global health: Any lessons from the European Union?” 
• Discussant: Anniek de Ruijter (University of Amsterdam)

11:00 – 11:25

• Pascal McDougall (Harvard Law School): “The European Union and International Solidarity at the Intersection of Labour Rights and the Environment”
• Discussant: Tonia Novitz (University of Bristol)

11.25 – 12.15: Q & A session – further comments and debate 

12.15 – 12.30: Concluding remarks of the IG EUGLOBAL conveners

Click here to download the full programme.

The EU’s global role with respect to the principle of solidarity under international law: a quest for normativity?

In the margins of the ESIL Catania Research Forum, the ESIL Interest Group on the EU as a Global Actor will hold a workshop on the EU’s global role with respect to the principle of solidarity under international law on 15 April 2021. The primary target audience for the event is legal scholars at an early stage of their careers.

The theme of the upcoming ESIL Research Forum concerns the role of solidarity in the fabric of international law as well as in its different branches of law. The EUGlobal Interest Group will pick up this topic by focusing on the European Union’s global role with respect to the principle of solidarity under international law. Therefore, EUGlobal welcomes proposals for papers addressing mainly (but not limited to) the following themes:

• Solidarity as a legal principle in the EU legal order: challenges in the law of external relations and the role of EU judiciary.
• Burden sharing, responsibility-sharing and solidarity under the new EU Pact on Migration and Asylum: a blueprint for the global legal order?
• Case studies of EU law influencing universal standard-setting related to solidarity within the international community (e.g. EU’s contribution to the ILC’s draft articles on the protection of persons in the event of disasters etc.).

The IG EUGLOBAL invites submissions of abstracts, written in English or French, of no more than 500 words. Applications should be submitted to euglobalactor@gmail.com by 31 January 2021 (Sunday) 24:00h CET, with a short curriculum vitae containing the author’s name, institutional affiliation, contact information (e-mail and phone number), and whether the applicant is member of ESIL. Selected speakers will be notified by 15 February 2021 via e-mail.

The full Call for Papers for the event can be downloaded here.

Joint EUglobal – City Law School workshop: “The European Union’s External Action and International Law: A View From the Outside”

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The City Law School, International Law and Affairs Group (ILAG) and the ESIL Interest Group on the EU as a Global Actor invite submissions of abstracts for a workshop on ‘The European Union’s External Action and International Law: A View From the Outside’. The workshop will take place at the City Law School, City, University of London, on 12 June 2020.

Workshop Theme:
How is the European Union and its external action viewed from the ‘outside’? As the European Union’s external action continues to expand and evolve, this raises ever more questions about how such practice fits within the state-centric system of international law.

Some practices in the EU’s external action have been criticised as examples of ‘European exceptionalism’, in which the EU receives exceptions from its international partners. The use of disconnection clauses in international agreements; the EU’s insistence that the autonomy of the EU legal order be preserved in dispute settlement bodies; the practice of concluding mixed agreements; among others, have raised concerns for the EU’s external partners. In these instances, the EU seeks certain exceptions under international law to take account the EU’s internal law. The EU’s external action has also attracted certain criticism from international lawyers who have pointed to fields of EU action may contravene international law.

While much of this has been considered from the ‘internal’ perspective, especially by EU law experts, there has been less reflection on how the EU and its external action is viewed from the ‘outside’. This event understands ‘outside’ as a broad term to include opinions and approaches from outside the EU geographically, but also in terms of academic discipline. It may also involve critical and non-Western approaches to the understanding the EU’s external action. The event aims to open up the study of the EU’s external action to outside reactions and perspectives.

We invite abstracts on the general theme of workshop. Issues may include

• How is the EU’s external action viewed from the perspective of public international law? What practices in the EU’s external action give rise to particular problems for the EU and its international partners?
• How is the EU viewed from the perspective of other international bodies, such as international organizations and international dispute settlement bodies? What kinds of tensions does this give rise to in EU law and international law?
• Which practices of the EU give rise to particular problems from an international law perspective? Does the EU’s action in the field of trade, sanctions, migration, human rights and so on, invite criticism for failure to observe international law?
• What can other disciplines outside of EU law, such as international law, or critical and non-Western approaches, bring to the study of the EU and its external action?
• What are the views of the EU and its external action from particular geographical regions?

The abstracts should contain a one-page (500 words max.) description of the proposed paper and are to be accompanied by a CV of the author/s. The abstracts are to be sent to Ramses Wessel (r.a.wessel@rug.nl) and Jed Odermatt (Jed.Odermatt@city.ac.uk) by 15 February 2020. Successful applicants will be notified by 15 March 2020.

Call for Papers: Joint EUGlobal-CLEER Workshop – “EU Trade Agreements and the Duty to Respect Human Rights Abroad”

The T.M.C. Asser Institute, the Centre for the Law of EU External Relations (CLEER) and the ESIL Interest Group on the EU as a Global Actor invite submissions of abstracts for a workshop on ‘EU Trade Agreements and the Duty to Respect Human Rights Abroad’. The workshop will take place at the Asser Institute in The Hague, on 11 December 2019.

Workshop Theme [extract]:

In recent years, the issue of whether human rights obligations incumbent upon the EU have an extraterritorial scope has gained much salience. Recent developments, including the Western Sahara litigation before the CJEU concerning the conclusion of a trade agreement extending to a territory whose people are denied the right to self-determination by an EU trading partner attest to the increasing significance of answering questions of ‘extraterritoriality’ of EU human rights obligations in the context of trade agreements. […]

In this light, this workshop aims to explore the question of whether the EU is bound by human rights obligations towards individuals outside the territory of its Member States when it concludes trade agreements with third countries.

Abstracts are invited that address one or more of the following aspects:

• Is the EU bound to respect human rights extraterritorially when it concludes trade agreements with third countries, and if so, what is the legal basis for this duty?
• To what extent are Art. 3(5) and 21 TEU relevant in the context of the debate regarding the EU’s extraterritorial human rights obligations?
• To what extent is international law relevant in the context of the debate regarding the EU’s extraterritorial human rights obligations?
• How can other areas of international law (such as due diligence, responsibility of international organisations) have an impact on the debate regarding the EU’s extraterritorial human rights obligations?

The abstracts should contain a one-page (500 words max.) description of the proposed paper and are to be accompanied by a CV of the author/s. The abstracts are to be sent to Ramses Wessel (ramses.wessel@utwente.nl) and Eva Kassoti (E.Kassoti@asser.nl) by 15 July 2019. Successful applicants will be notified by 15 September 2019. The proposed paper must not cover previously published work. The complete papers (8.000-10.000 words) must be submitted by 15 November 2019 in order to be communicated to the other participants in the workshop. It is the intention of the organisers to seek publication of the papers in the CLEER papers subject to applicable peer review processes.

Click here to read the full Call for Papers.

Call for papers: Sharing Sovereignty: The EU, its Member States and International Law

The European Society of International Law’s Interest Group The EU as a Global Actor organises a pre-conference event on Thursday 12 September 2019 in the framework of the 15th ESIL Annual Conference to be held 12-14 September 2019 in Athens, Greece.

As part of their EU membership, states have transferred an unprecedented amount of powers to an international organisation. Some of these powers touch upon core aspects of sovereignty, such as access of third country nationals to EU territory, budgetary decision-making, as well as external representation. The pre-conference event focuses on the consequences this transfer of competences has on our understanding of sovereignty and on the relationship of the EU and its Member States with third parties.

The overall aim of the panel is to explore the potential of developing a concept of European or shared sovereignty and to identify particular challenges associated with the complex division of competences among the EU and its Member States for international law. In this light, the Coordinating Committee of the Interest Group The EU as a Global Actor invites submissions of abstracts on any of the questions mentioned in the full call for papers of no more than 500 words. Applications should be submitted to ramses.wessel@utwente.nl by 1 June 2019, with a short curriculum vitae containing the author’s name, institutional affiliation, and contact details. Selected speakers will be notified by 1 July 2019.

Click here to read the full call for papers, in PDF format.

 

Call for papers: EU External Relations after Brexit

Professor Juan Santos Vara (Universidad de Salamanca) and Professor Ramses A. Wessel (University of Twente) are organizing a workshop entitled “EU External Relations after Brexit: Implications under EU and International Law” on 7-9 March 2019 at the Universidad de Salamanca in Spain.

This workshop will analyse and discuss the applicable rules of both EU and international law in relation to the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union. It will focus on the impact of the withdrawal agreement and the arrangement for the future EU-UK relations on the existing external relations regime of the European Union.

Ever since the notification of the UK’s intention to withdraw from the European Union, legal scholarship has pointed to a variety of complex legal problems. While the focus has clearly been on the ways in which the UK could remain connected to the EU, the consequences for the EU’s (and the UK’s) external relations regime are equally complex. Both EU external relations law and international law have something to say about the problems that still need to be solved and the ones that can be expected on the basis of the new arrangements.

Submission and selection of potential contributions
Interested researchers (in every stage of their careers) should submit an English abstract of around 500 words (approximately one page) addressing the conference theme at savajuan@usal.es no later than 30 November 2018. Please include your name, email and affiliation along with your abstract. As we aim for the publication of a book, paper proposals will be subject to a strict selection. The selection of the papers will be communicated to the speakers by the end of December 2018. Confirmed participants are expected to provide complete drafts of their papers of around 8000 words no later than 1 March 2019.

Travel costs and accommodation
The Jean Monnet Chair at USAL in EU External Action will cover travel costs as well local expenses for the selected participants, including accommodation in Salamanca for two nights.

Please see the full call for papers for further details.

Call for papers: Global Politics and EU Free Trade Policy Conference, 10-11 December 2018 in Brussels

The EUTIP research network invites paper proposals for the Global Politics and EU Free Trade Policy Conference, 10-11 December 2018 in Brussels.

EU trade policy moves in a changing global environment. Multilateral institutions are in danger, and at the same time trade disputes are increasing. Current events show the close connection between trade and security policy. Protectionist trade sanctions are allegedly motivated by security policy reasons; conversely, security policy measures affect international trade. The subject of this conference therefore is the exploration of the relations between Global Policies and EU Trade Policy along three themes:

• Theme 1: Relation of EU FTAs to Multilateral Trade Rules
• Theme 2: EU Trade Policy in Global Policy Context
• Theme 3: EU Trade Defence Instruments in a Protectionist Environment – Fit for Purpose?

For further details, see the website of the conference. The full text of the call for papers is also available for download directly from the blog .

The deadline is 6 October 2018. Please submit proposals to boettner@uni-speyer.de and profdrwweiss@gmail.com.

Interdisciplinary Doctoral Symposium: Democracy, Rule of Law and Human Rights in Europe and the World in Times of Contestation

Interdisciplinary Doctoral Symposium: Democracy, Rule of Law and Human Rights in Europe and the World in Times of Contestation, 20-21 September 2018, Leuven

Call for Papers

The European Union’s (EU) commitment to the pursuit of a ‘principled’ foreign policy is well-grounded in the provisions of the EU Treaties. The implementation of this commitment, however, has been found wanting in numerous instances, making scholars frequently question the way and the extent to which values and ideals, such as the promotion of the rule of law and human rights, clash with material interests in EU external relations. Faced with a hardening international environment and domestic crises, the EU appears to be adjusting some of its rhetoric and action: the 2016 Global Strategy for Foreign and Security Policy, for example, speaks of the ‘principled pragmatism’ which should guide the EU’s external action in the years ahead. The Symposium will address, in addition to the EU’s acts and omissions abroad concerning the trinity of democracy, human rights and the rule of law, problems and challenges regarding the EU’s internal capacity on safeguarding democracy, human rights and the rule of law within its own Member States, and relating to its promotion of these values and principles on the international stage. It will also examine how current contestation of the European project and of a rules-based and cooperative international order may affect the EU’s ability to promote and uphold its core values, both within and beyond its borders. The nature and impact of this multifaceted legitimacy crisis will thus be taken into account, looking into the constraints and opportunities this may hold for the EU as a global actor and the challenges the EU faces in regaining the trust of European citizens.

Click here to read the full call.

Interested PhD students and young scholars should submit proposal summaries, in English only, of 3000 characters (approximately one page). The proposals should address the themes of the Workshop mentioned above. The said proposals, accompanied by detailed CVs and motivation letters should be submitted to profjanwouters@ggs.kuleuven.be no later than Monday 2 July 2018.