The League of European Research Universities (LERU) calls for greater appreciation of fundamental research that does not have an immediate application. A working group headed by Geert de Snoo, dean of the Leiden Faculty of Science, issued a memorandum on the subject on 29 August.

The European Court of Human Rights recently ruled in favour of a group of older Swiss women. The issued concerned the health of senior citizens, especially women, who experienced symptoms as a result of climate change. They claimed that the Swiss Government should have taken more climate action, as…

The suspects of the fatal assault on Mallorca will be investigated in the Netherlands. If the Dutch Public Prosecution Service sees sufficient reason to prosecute the suspects, then a Dutch court will consider the case.

On 17 March 2022, Ilke Göçmen from Ankara University organised a Conference within the framework of a Jean Monnet Chair on ‘Legal Issues in Turkey – European Union Relations’.

Dr. Moritz Jesse, Associate Professor of European Union Law at the Europa Institute Leiden, presented about the legal transition of migrants from outsiders to insiders at the 26th International Conference of Europeanists, which took place in Madrid in June.

On 6 June, Armin Cuyvers lectured students and staff of the University of Nairobi on EU law and comparative regional integration

A team of researchers at Leiden University’s Europa Institute authored an extensive study on the potential for a Climate and Energy Union within the EU constitutional framework. The study was published by the European Parliament in December 2024.

China is conducting joint military exercises this week with Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. In doing so, it is seeking to strengthen military ties with the ASEAN Member States amidst growing US presence in the region.

The Farm to Fork Strategy seeks to transform the EU food system towards greater sustainability. To do this, Vincent Delhomme argues, some of the traditional concepts and doctrines in EU internal market law need to be challenged and rethought.

On Friday 20 January the Meijers Awards were presented for the best article published in 2016 written by a researcher in the final phase of their PhD research. The winners received a certificate and prize money to be put towards their research.

Ticketmaster – the largest ticket sales company in the world – is under fire from both consumers and Dutch MPs. The reason is the sale of tickets for the Lowlands festival, where resale tickets are costing at least 100 euros more than the original ticket price of 300 euros. Political parties GroenLinks,…

De IND wil - ondanks het bewind van Taliban in Afghanistan - meerdere Afghaanse vrouwen terugsturen. Verschillende experts van vijf Nederlandse universiteiten – waaronder Mark Klaassen, universitair docent immigratierecht - zeggen in Trouw unaniem dat het terugsturen van vrouwen onacceptabel is.

On 10 February 2025, Vincent Delhomme attended the official launch of the new EU Health Union Fellowship at the College of Europe (Bruges), where he delivered a two hour lecture on EU health governance.

Dr Moritz Jesse (Associate Professor at the Department of European law) spoke at a symposium organised at Oxford Brooks University. The symposium, which took place in October 2022, dealt with the question in how far integration of economic immigrants can be facilitated by the Law and the application…

Het Internationaal Strafhof krijgt veel kritiek op haar tanende invloed als het gaat om gerechtigheid in Oekraïne en Palestina. Larissa van den Herik, hoogleraar internationaal publiekrecht, sprak met Trouw: ‘Internationaal recht is altijd in ontwikkeling en is altijd imperfect.’

Mariana Gkliati has recently published an article in the European Journal of Legal Studies. In her contribution, Gkliati discusses the application of the EU-Turkey Agreement, analysing the decisions of the Greek Appeals Committees on whether Turkey constitutes a safe third country. She assesses the…

The number of children being housed in emergency asylum accommodation has skyrocketed over the past two years. Various agencies have been issuing warnings for several years about the distressing conditions found in emergency accommodation in the Netherlands. Dr Mark Klaassen, Assistant Professor of…

Beryl ter Haar is currently a Visiting Professor at the University of Warsaw, Poland. The Law School is the oldest part of the university (founded in 1808), followed by the School of Medicine (founded one year later). The two schools became the heart of Warsaw University which was founded in 1816 by…

On 6 September 2023, the General Court of the Court of Justice of the European Union delivered its ruling in T-600/21 WS and Others v Frontex, dismissing a damages claim brought by a family of Syrian refugees against the EU agency Frontex.

Vasiliki Kosta has been appointed as a member of the Committee of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) tasked with writing an advisory report on legal safeguards for academic freedom.

Live Nation Entertainment, het moederbedrijf van Ticketmaster, is door een jury in New York schuldig bevonden aan het schenden van de Amerikaanse mededingingsregels. In Trouw geeft Ben Van Rompuy, universitair hoofddocent Europees Mededingingsrecht, duiding bij de zaak.

From 8 to 10 September 2022, Yvonne Erkens and Gerrard Boot attended a conference of the European Association of Labour Court Judges (EALCJ). At the invitation of the Greek representative, the conference was held on Hydra. The EALCJ is an association of judges from all Member States of the European…

On 30 November 2023, Florian Theissen successfully defended his PhD thesis, 'Sincerely Believing in Freedom'.

The European Commission has started an investigation into possible illegal state aid from the Netherlands to Nike. It is high time that agreements between Tax Authorities and multinationals are made public, says Associate Professor in Tax Law Jan Vleggeert.

On 15 January 2019, the external relations committee of the Swiss National Council (lower chamber of the Federal Parliament) held a public hearing on the subject of the draft text for an agreement between Switzerland the European Union with new institutional rules for a number of Swiss-EU market acces…

There is a growing conflict between the US and the EU about the investigation by the Commission under the EU State aid rules into so called

In November 2022, at the request of the House of Representatives, the Dutch Government established the State Commission on the Rule of Law.

Economies worldwide are increasingly interconnected; trade in raw materials and semi-finished products is increasing. Many products we use in the Netherlands originate abroad, and many products we make in the Netherlands are destined for other countries. Almost all countries around us participate in…

Experts verwachten een aanpassing in de transferregels, waardoor voetballers meer vrijheid krijgen om een club te verlaten. Een uitspraak in de Diarra-zaak door het Europees Hof van Justitie, wordt binnenkort verwacht en zou tot deze herziening kunnen leiden. Stefan Vandenbogaert, hoogleraar europeesrecht,…

Dr. Moritz Jesse, Associate Professor at the Europa Institute, presented his paper ‘Building Bridges or Erecting Walls? – The Application of Equal Treatment and Non-Discrimination in Europe ‘ at the annual meeting of the Law and Society Association.

Festival

Leiden University is happy to announce that it has won a prestigious Jean Monnet grant for a Centre of Excellence. The Centre, called CompaRe, focusses on comparative regional integration.

On 7 November 2024, an ESIL Joint Colloquium, organised by the European Society of International Law (ESIL) Interest Group ‘The EU as a Global Actor’ (IG EUGLOBAL), in partnership with the Interest Group on Migration and Refugee Law (IG MigRefLaw), took place on the topic ‘The EU as an (Imperfect) Global…

The University of Copenhagen and Trinity College Dublin will become members of the League of European Research Universities (LERU) with effect from 1 January 2017. The LERU, of which Leiden University is one of the founders, aims to promote the interests of scientific research and teaching.

Dr. Moritz Jesse, Associate Professor at the Europa Institute, presented two papers at the General Conference of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) which took place in Oslo, Norway, in September 2017.

In its broadcast of 28 April 2019, TV programme Medialogica (Human) looked at television programme Ontvoerd (Abducted). Leiden professors Mariëlle Bruning and Jannemieke Ouwerkerk contributed to the broadcast.

One week ago a group of Dutch men were attacked out of the blue by another group of Dutch tourists on the Spanish island of Mallorca. One of the victims later died as a result of his injuries. The Spanish police know who the suspects are, but those men are in the Netherlands.

Conference

The EU Returns Directive is an important instrument to humanely return third-country nationals without lawful residence to their country of origin. However, the return of third-country nationals remains problematic for a number of reasons.

Mariana Gkliati participated with a paper presentation at the Panel: European borders and the role of Frontex, on 29 November in Trento.

How do you increase the EU’s EQ so that citizens and countries feel a greater sense of belonging and safety in the EU, and the countries work better together? To answer this question, Professor of European Law Armin Cuyvers works, among others, with social psychologists. Inaugural lecture on 9 Decem…

Dr. Moritz Jesse, Associate Professor European Law at the Europa Institute, gave a lecture about Migration and Asylum on Thursday 22 February 2018.

Monday June 18th the department of European Prehistory of the Faculty of Archaeology started a five-year research (2018-2022) of two newly discovered barrow groups: Baarlo-De Bong and Venlo-Zaarderheiken (northern Limburg).

On Wednesday 18 November 2021, Jorrit Rijpma was part of a panel at a conference organised by ERA, Academy of European Law. The question discussed was how the protection of the EU’s external borders and Schengen could be best achieved.

From 10-13 June, Martijn van den Brink participated in the EU Law Mountain Seminar in the Czech Republic. This event is a regular gathering of scholars interested in public law in Europe founded by Marco Dani and Jan Komárek in 2017. These are closed events where selected researchers discuss their ongoing…

The German Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung has awarded a Research Fellowship for Experienced Researchers to Jannemieke Ouwerkerk for her project ‘The Moral Limits of EU Criminal Law: A Rechtsguts-theory for the European Union’.

The Editorial comment in the June issue of the Common Market Law Review examines three different aspects of the rule of law in relation to the European Union. Despite, or because of, the many challenges facing the Union, these questions are of continuing importance. The Union itself is based on legal…

Emma de Vries, PhD candidate in the Department of European Law at Leiden University, has written an annotation for EHRC updates on the ECHR judgment in Suprun and Others v. Russia (June 18, 2024, case number 58029/12).

On 28 June 2024, Dr Kristof Gombeer spoke on State jurisdiction and the protection of people at sea at the 81st Biennial Conference of the International Law Association (ILA) in Athens, Greece.

On 23 May 2025, Olga Ceran spoke at the ICON-S Benelux Chapter conference dedicated to ‘Public Law in an Age of Contestation and Systemic Change’. This conference was organised by the Université libre de Bruxelles, in collaboration with the Centre de droit européen and the Centre de droit public et…