Europe's Constitutional Mosaic is a series of five seminars organised by Neil Walker, Stephen Tierney and Jo Shaw in the School of Law, University of Edinburgh.

Europe's Constitutional Mosaic is supported by the James Madison Trust and funded by a British Academy small grant for research. It is closely linked to other projects within the Europa Institute and the Centre for Law and Society.

The seminars will seek to explore the complex constitutional arrangements of the European space as an inter-connected mosaic. There has been much recent debate concerning the constitutional future of Europe, focussing almost exclusively upon the EU in the context of the (failed) Constitutional Treaty and subsequently the Treaty of Lisbon. The premise is that this focus, while important, offers only a partial vision of the complex constitutional terrain of contemporary Europe. In addition it is essential to explore other threads of normative authority within and across states, embracing internal challenges to state-level constitutional regimes; the growing jurisprudential assertiveness of the Council of Europe regime (in particular through the ECHR); as well as Europe’s ever thicker relations with broader international institutions, in particular those of the United Nations. Together these create increasingly dense networks of constitutional authority within the European space. This fluid and multi-dimensional dynamic is difficult to classify, and indeed may seem in many ways impenetrable, but that makes the academic challenge all the more important and pressing. Without this fuller picture it becomes impossible to understand the legal context of Europe today or the prospects of ongoing changes.

The seminars will take place on Friday afternoons during the academic year 2008-2009 in the School of Law, University of Edinburgh. The focus will be on the discussion of pre-circulated papers. The papers discussed at the seminars will be brought together as a collective volume edited by the organisers, to be published in 2009/2010.

For more details on the conceptual framework for the seminar programme see here.

If you would like more details about the seminars, please email Conrado Hubner Mendes (conrado (at) hubner.org.br).

The EU and the Member States: The evolving relationship in the context of the broader constitutional mosaic

Speakers:

Monica Claes, University of Tilburg, Netherlands, 'Post, Past, Beyond and Back'

Julio Baquero Cruz, Centre for Political and Constitutional Studies, Madrid, Spain, 'An Area of Darkness: Three Conceptions of the Relationship between EU Law and State Constitutional Law'

Chair: Jo Shaw, University of Edinburgh

Discussants: Cormac Mac Amhlaigh, University of Edinburgh and Neil Walker, University of Edinburgh

Venue and Timing: L05, Old College; 2.00-5.00pm

The Council of Europe: Building models of good governance/democratisation

Speakers:

Gwen Sasse, University of Oxford, UK and Jo Shaw, University of Edinburgh, UK.

Chair: Neil Walker, University of Edinburgh

Discussants: Christina Boswell, University of Edinburgh and Stephen Tierney, University of Edinburgh

Venue and Timing: Raeburn Room, Old College; 2.00-5.00pm

Extending the substantive reach of the Convention and the Court

Speakers: Andrew Williams, University of Warwick, UK and Sionaidh Douglas-Scott, University of Oxford, UK.

Chair: Claudio Michelon, University of Edinburgh

Discussants: Daniel Augenstein, University of Edinburgh and Elaine Webster, University of Strathclyde Law School.

Venue and Timing: L05, Old College; 2.00-5.00pm

The intensification of constitutional claims below the state

Speakers: Ferran Requejo, University Pompeu Fabre, Barcelona, Spain and Hans Lindahl, University of Tilburg, Netherlands.

Chair: Drew Scott, University of Edinburgh

Discussants: Ailsa Henderson, University of Edinburgh and Chris Himsworth, University of Edinburgh

Venue and Timing: Raeburn Room, Old College; 2.00-5.00pm

Europe's Constitutional Mosaic within a global constitutional order 

Speakers: Jan Klabbers, University of Helsinki, Finland and Anne Peters, University of Basel, Switzerland.

Chair: Stephen Tierney, University of Edinburgh

Discussants: Neil Walker, University of Edinburgh and Gavin Anderson, University of Glasgow

Venue and Timing: Raeburn Room, Old College; 2.00-5.00pm