"EU Charter of Fundamental Rights" Training Seminar

From 8-9 April 2016, EIUC is hosting its second training seminar on the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.

The aim of the training course is to explore the scope and usefulness of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights for the legal practitioners facing the national courts or the Court of Justice of the EU, mostly by means of preliminary reference. Beyond illustrating the key features of the Court and essential aspects of its functioning, the training seminar will be dedicated to the analysis of relevant case law in parallel working groups with a view to allow discussion and exchange on concrete questions.

The training is convened and led by Prof. Jean-Paul Jacqué, Honorary Director General of the Council of the European Union and Professor Emeritus at the University of Strasbourg. Seminar participants will not only benefit from Professor Jacqué’s long-standing legal expertise, but also from his unique insights into the Charter as a result of his first-hand experience of its drafting process as a member of the Legal Service of the Council of the European Union.

In addition, the training seminar will also give participants the opportunity to engage in discussions and case law analyses with other high-level academics and legal professionals in a small group work setting. Workshop topics include: Privacy and Data Protection, Asylum and Immigration, Internal Market, and Economic and Social Rights.

Workshop Topics:

Privacy and Data Protection have become key issues in the context of protecting fundamental rights as a result of the growing use of information and communication technologies. The EU has been at the forefront of developing and introducing legal frameworks for data protection. Unlike other major human rights documents, the EU Charter is unique in that it treats data protection as a fundamental right distinct from the right to respect for private and family life.

Asylum and Immigration are at the centre of current fundamental rights debates given the far-reaching migration crisis that the EU is presently facing. The Charter contains the right to asylum and prohibits the collective expulsion and the removal of individuals if there is a risk to their life or of other serious harm. However, in light of recent events in Europe the right to asylum and its application have become more contentious than ever.

Economic and Social Rights have been of great interest, particularly following the severe 2008 financial and economic crisis with its consequences in the foreign debt crises in Greece and other Member States and the resulting austerity measures in many countries in the EU. The discussion on economic and social rights is now being exacerbated by the ongoing migration crisis, and is set to remain a debated issue in the context of the EU Charter and among legal practitioners.

Internal Market legislation and its relationship with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights has been a continuously debated matter since the inception of the Charter. The workshop will provide an overview of this topic and focus on several case studies to illustrate relevant jurisprudence.