2022 - 21 October CLEER Conference The EU's Strategic Autonomy from a Practical Legal Perspective

Join us Friday 21 October for the CLEER Conference 'Comprehensive Security: The EU’s Strategic Autonomy from a Practical Legal Perspective', with judge Marc van der Woude, President of the General Court of the EU. The CLEER Conference is organised in close cooperation with the General Court of the European Union and the Department of European and Economic Law of the University of Groningen. The event will be held in person at the Asser Institute in The Hague, as well as online. 

The aim of the conference is to explore the different legal dimensions of the concept of ‘strategic autonomy’. We do so by approaching ‘security’ - a core idea underpinning it -   in a more comprehensive fashion. After all, security questions are not only relevant in military terms, but also present themselves in areas such as energy policy, data protection, sanctions, extraterritorial effects of foreign law, investment policy, or public procurement.

Practical legal questions increasingly present themselves in these fields - as the relevant CJEU case-law attests to. These questions range from individuals or companies seeking legal protection in common security and defence policy (CDSP) matters (on staff and public procurement matters). Practical legal questions on the strategic autonomy concept are also raised in the areas of energy security or data protection, on exports of dual-use goods, or in cases of clear conflicts between EU and foreign sanction regimes. Legal questions equally emerge in relation to EU member states’ military obligations under Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) or with regard to military missions (the binding nature of norms, responsibility and claims, the appropriate court or tribunal).

For more info and registration, please visit