[CLEER Conference] Comprehensive security: 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).

The conference aims to bring together academics as well as practitioners working at, inter alia, courts and tribunals, ministries, embassies and law firms. 

Programme

10:00-10:15    Introduction and welcome

10:15-11:00    The General Court of the European Union’s Engagement with Questions of Security

                       Mr Marc van der Woude, President of the General Court of the EU

11:00-12:15    Round Table on Member State’s Perspectives on European Security

                        Contributions by selected Member States and EU Institutions

Contributions by selected Member States H.E. Ms Frances Lanitou (Ambassador of the Republic of Cyprus); H.E. Mr Ilkka-Pekka Similä (Ambassador of Finland); Ms Babs Kamsteeg (Dutch Ministry of Defense)

Moderator: Prof. Ramses A. Wessel (University of Groningen)

12:15-13:00    Lunch

13:00-14:15    Panel 1: Common Security and Defence Policy

                       Prof. Federico Casolari (University of Bologna) – Member States-EU interactions with security implications and the implementation of the Eu’s strategic  autonomy doctrine

                        Mr Bram Vroege (Utrecht University)- European Defense Fund

                        Mr Stephan Marquardt (EEAS) – Legal Nature of Civilian CDSP Missions

Moderator: Dr Eva Kassoti (T.M.C. Asser Institue)

14:15-15:15    Panel 2: Sanctions and Export Restrictions

                       Dr Machiko Kanetake (Utrecht University)– The EU’s dual-use export control

                       Prof. Peter van Elsuwege (Ghent University)– Strategic autonomy and EU sanctions: challenges of co-ordination and judicial review

Moderator:  Prof. Henri de Waele (Radbound University / University of Antwerp)

15:15-15:45    Coffee / tea

15:45-17:00    Panel 3: Energy, Digital, and Food Security

                        Dr Max Baumgart (Tilburg University) – EU energy security and its external dimension

                        Dr Oskar Gstrein (University of Groningen) – Digital Autonomy, Sovereignty and Security

                        Prof. Josephine van Zeben (Wageningen University) – Food security

Moderator: Ms Cathleen Berg (University of Bayreuth/ CLEER Visiting Fellow) 

17:00-18:00    Reception

Read the full programme

Project leader: Dr Eva Kassoti, Senior researcher (Asser Institute) and academic co-ordinator for the Centre of the Law of EU External Relations (CLEER) at the T.M.C. Asser Institute.