Prof Eleanor Spaventa delivers Jean Monnet Lecture

Tuesday, July 6, 2021 - 09:30

On 15 June 2021 Professor Eleanor Spaventa (Bocconi University, Milan) delivered the first Jean Monnet Lecture organised by the Prof Tobias Lock, Jean Monnet Chair in EU Law and Fundamental Rights. The well-attended lecture was entitled “Constitutional Creativity or Constitutional Deception? – Member State collective action and the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice” and addressed the question whether Member States can avoid judicial review by acting collectively outside the EU Treaty framework. Prof Spaventa presented some worrying trends in this regard, such as the EU-Turkey Statement of 2016, which provides for the return of refugees to Turkey; and the recent dismissal of serving Advocate General Sharpston, which happened on the basis of a decision by the Member States’ ambassadors on the occasion of the withdrawal of the UK (which had nominated Sharpston) from the EU. Professor Spaventa’s key arguments are summarised in this Twitter thread here