What are the legal principles and structural solutions through which the powers are divided between the Member States and the European Union? What is their global impact? What regulation applies to transnational families in the EU? What does behavioural economics tell us about the legislator’s assumptions on the role of energy consumers? These different questions reveal the development of EU law and more importantly, they indicate its influence upon our lives as EU citizens,  as well as its global reach. ACELG is very glad to welcome three prominent researchers that address these fundamental questions of law and policy.

The EU on the world stage

Steven Blockmans, Professor of EU External Relations Law and Governance, studies the legal and policy factors that shape the role of the EU on the world stage. He takes a “prospective look” in order for his research findings to “inform on-going debates at policy and societal level”. His latest edited book “The EU's Role in Global Governance: The Legal Dimension” published by Oxford University Press (2013), aims to elucidate the dynamics of the internal and external powers and the international policy of the EU. Currently, Blockmans is carrying out research on the role of the EU in peaceful dispute settlement, an issue which he will also address in his Inaugural Lecture scheduled for 15 November 2013. Professor Blockmans, who is head of the EU foreign policy unit of the Brussels Centre for European Policy Studies CEPS,  is happy to join ACELG, which he sees as “a dynamic research group with an excellent reputation”. 

The practices of energy supervisory authorities entrusted with applying the European energy directives

Saskia Lavrijssen, Professor of Consumer and Energy Law, aims to research the legal and economic fundamentals of the regulation and supervision of markets, with a special focus on the energy sector. In addition to her academic contribution, Lavrijssen is a Deputy Judge at the Administrative High Court for Trade and Industry and has been recently appointed as the Chair of the Appeals Committee of the Dutch Gambling Authority. Her current research is focused upon the role, independence and accountability of independent market supervisors at the national and European level. She aims to map how these different actors operate in practice, how they shape markets and integrate public values into their decisions as well as to assess their role from a legitimacy perspective. Professor Lavrijssen looks forward to cooperate with the “enthusiastic and ambitious researchers” at ACELG.  

The regulation of transnational families

Betty de Hart, Professor of Migration Law, conducts comparative, empirical and historical research on European and international private law, with a particular focus on citizenship and immigration law. In her current work, she focuses on the regulation of transnational families, which has become a highly relevant societal issue as more and more families are connected to more than one national legal system in different ways. De Hard, who has been a member of the interdisciplinary Centre for Migration Law of Radboud University Nijmegen for many years, has written extensively on these issues; her publications include “A proper wife, a proper marriage: Constructions of ‘us’ and ‘them’ in Dutch family migration policy” (with Saskia Bonjour) published in European Journal of Women’s Studies (February 2013) and  “Love Thy Neighbour: Family Reunification and the Rights of Insiders” in European Journal of Migration and Law (2009). De Hart is a Member of the Advisory Council of the Centrum Internationale Kinderontvoering (Centre International Parental Child Abduction) and a member of the Board of the Netherlands Organisation of Socio-Legal research  (VSR).