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Empowerment and Disempowerment of the European Citizen
Empowerment and Disempowerment of the European Citizen
Organisers: Michael Dougan (University of Liverpool), Niamh Nic Shuibhne (University of Edinburgh) and Eleanor Spaventa (Durham University)
A joint application to strengthen research links between the law schools at the Universities of Durham, Edinburgh and Liverpool was successfully funded by the Edinburgh Europa Institute. A seminar series on the theme of Empowerment and Disempowerment of the European Citizen ran over the 2010 calendar year, and will lead to the publication of an edited collection of essays in 2011. PhD researchers from the three participant universities acted as academic discussants at each session.
Most recent legal research on EU citizenship has focused on rights to free movement and equal treatment, with an emphasis on issues such as fighting social exclusion versus encouraging welfare tourism. This project took one of the main themes highlighted in that legal debate – the emancipation of certain citizens, the alienation of others – and sought to expand its horizons so as to interrogate whether similar debates and trends can be found or identified in other fields of European integration.
Three half-day workshops explored the following main themes: (1) reconfigurations of space and identity within the EU (Liverpool); (2) expectations, rhetoric and reality in the debate about citizenship and constitutional reform in Europe (Durham); (3) the role of citizenship discourse in setting the EU’s substantive policy agenda (Edinburgh). These discussions were particularly timely given the current economic and political climate: the long-running failure to drive forward constitutional reform of the EU, the recent and highly problematic European Parliamentary elections, the ongoing economic crisis and, especially, continuing national protectionism unchecked by the Community institutions. It was a vital juncture at which to consider whether, how far, and in what ways EU law and policy might enrich or undermine institutions of citizenship in contemporary European societies.
In the Name of the Citizen? - Durham, Friday 10th September 2010
Email contact: eleanor.spaventa@durham.ac.uk
Speakers and Themes of Papers:
Deirdre Curtin, Universities of Amsterdam and Utrecht
Conceptualising open government in the European Union: a democratic perspective
Bruno de Witte, European University Institute
Can the Court of Justice be responsive to European citizens?
Jan Komarek, University of Oxford
Is the citizen at the heart of the National Courts’ Lisbon Judgments?
Michelle Everson, Birkbeck, University of London
European citizenship: powered by emotion?
The Reconfiguration of Space - Liverpool, Friday 22nd October 2010
Email contact: m.dougan@liverpool.ac.uk
Speakers and Themes of Papers:
Oxana Golynker, University of Leicester
EU Citizenship: social solidarity reconfigured?
Charlotte O’Brien, University of York
Frontier zones and intersectional citizens: Redefining borders within the EU
Joe Painter, Durham University (Geography)
Reflections on territory, identity and citizenship in Europe
Síofra O'Leary, European Court of Justice
Union citizens, borders and movement: reviewing the purely internal rule
The Citizen’s Policy Agenda? - Edinburgh, Friday 10th December 2010
Email contact: niamh.nicshuibhne@ed.ac.uk
Speakers and Themes of Papers:
Ester Herlin-Karnell, VU University Amsterdam
Is the citizen driving the EU’s criminal law agenda?
Helen Stalford, University of Liverpool
The role of the citizen in the development of EU cross-border family law
Fabian Amtenbrink, Erasmus Univ Rotterdam
Europe in times of crisis: Bringing the Union closer to its citizens?
Joanne Scott, UCL
Can the EU deliver on citizen expectations in the fight against climate change?
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