CELS Conference: 'The Advocate General: Securing Trust and Democracy in the EU Judicial Order'

This one day conference, jointly organised by CELS, University of Cambridge and the School of Law, University of Leeds will take place at the Faculty of Law.

Participants might be further interested in the following article by the Telegraph: "Conservative MPs demand veto over Britain's EU judges"

Papers relating to the conference can be found on our Publications/Working Papers section.

*  Conference Programme.

For enquiries please contact: cels@law.cam.ac.uk

Conference Details

There have been very few conferences focusing on the Advocate General. This is an area in which little research has been conducted. Since the publication of the ground-breaking study by Greaves and Burrows, there has been growing interest in the role of these officers of the European Court of Justice and their contribution to the EU judicial order. Over the past two years, groups of researchers and practitioners have met to consider a range of theoretical and practical questions pertaining to the AGs, including their proximity to the CJEU, their role in the protection of the rule of law and in the development of EU criminal law. This meeting in Cambridge will provide an interdisciplinary arena for European and international contributors to continue this dialogue. It will bring scholars, practitioners and researchers together with past, present and perhaps future members of the Court with the specific aim to interrogate and discuss questions concerning democr atic accountability and trust in the EU judiciary, and the contribution of the AG to this.

Such an investigation is arguably long overdue for a number of methodological, legal, organizational, social and political reasons. Firstly, the ECJ has long ceased to be a monolithic institution 'tucked away in the duchy of Luxembourg' yet little EU scholarship has responded to this. Secondly, as the EU judiciary becomes more visible due to its role in the protection of human rights, the standards expected of other public bodies - such as efficiency, effectiveness, transparency and accountability - become equally important for any court hoping to maintain the credibility of the judicial system. Without democratic means to guarantee this, the ability of citizens to trust the EU judiciary and live in stability and security may become compromised. Thirdly, in the 21st century where European agencies now hold perhaps more data on individuals than ever since the second world war, and some governments begin to dole out instructions to judges, citizens in all polities need to be confident of the integrity of their judiciary. The negative consequences of a compromised judicial system can arguably be seen in parts of the world where stability of society, the polity and the economy are difficult to maintain. This integrity, fourthly, is even more crucial as the EU develops its Internal Security Strategy, which at present - as the creation and formalization of agencies such as Eurojust, Europol and Frontex show - is more focused on policing and border control.

Arguably, therefore, developments in European integration have prompted the maturing of this institution which now needs to be looked upon afresh through the lens of new types of questions and lines of enquiry. The goal of the conference is to begin to lay out this research agenda with a sharp focus on the demands and expectations of legal officers and judicial institutions in the 21st century. It is expected that the agenda will contain questions that are both European and international. The meeting will therefore be organized around three key themes: trust, democracy and security.