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Amsterdam Centre for European Law and Governance Amsterdam Centre for European Law and Governance

Separation of Powers in 21st Century Europe

As governance takes on new forms and dimensions, it is rendered ever more complex and further removed from the people in whose name public power is exercised. This is a development that is particularly apparent in the multilayered and policentric construction of the EU, which does not follow a classic conception of separation of powers. We will analyse the emergence of new divisions of power in the EU against the traditional term referring to a designation and delimitation of public powers with mutual control structures and constraints between the three branches of government: legislative, executive, and judicial (Eckes, Leino-Sandberg, and Wallerman Ghavanini, 2021).
Start date
29 June 2023
End date
30 June 2023
Time
09:00
Room
A3.01

This event is the concluding conference of the three-year research consortium ‘Separation of powers for 21st century Europe (SepaRope)’ between the Universities of Amsterdam, Gothenburg and Helsinki financed through the programme ‘NORFACE Democratic Governance in a Turbulent Age’ funded by a group of European Academies of Science and the European Commission through the Horizon2020 Programme.

Download the full programme here

Programme

Day 1: Thursday 29 June 2023

9:15-9:30 Introduction

9:30-11:00 Panel I: Conceptual Considerations

Päivi Leino-Sandberg, From separated powers to consensual executive government

Christoph Möllers, Federal value enforcement in a system of separated powers

11:30-13:00 Panel II.1: The Relationship between the Legislature and the Executive

Milka Sormunen & Davide Gnes, A crack in the constitutionalisation of EU migration and asylum policy? Assessing the practical implications of informalization of EU readmission policy on separation of powers.

Piotr Krajewski, The European Commission as a driver of EU trade policy: A constrained executive

14:00-15:30 Panel II.2: The Relationship between the Legislature and the Executive

Merijn Chamon, Regulatory Cooperation in 21st century Free Trade Agreements

Thomas Beukers, The role of Parliaments in EU Economic Policymaking

Laurens Ankersmit, Separation of Powers in 21st Century Trade Relations

16:00-18:00 Panel III: The Relationship between the Judiciary and the Executive

Martin Westlund, Judicial scrutiny of the external dimension of EU asylum and immigration law: the tensions between human rights and stronger border controls

Antti Ronkainen, Litigating Monetary Policy: The Limits are Ours

Day 2: Friday, 30 June 2023

9:00-11:30 Panel IV: The Relationship between the Judiciary and the Legislature

Cristina Fasone, National constitutional adjudication on EMU-related measures: A new field of judicial activism?

Allison Östlund & Anna Ghavanini, Creative control: Judicial review of legislative power in EU migration law

Christina Eckes, Judicial control of the EU and Member States’ trade and investment relations

11:45 – 13:15 Panel V: Cross-cutting Considerations

Marta Morvillo, The place of expertise in EU governance

Florin Coman Kund, Separation of powers within a hybrid EU multilayered system. A cross-sectional outlook

Nik de Boer, The Role of Constitutional Courts in a Multilayered Conception of Separated Powers

13:15-13:30 Final Considerations