National and international actors have attempted to provide accountability for the events at Srebrenica in July 1995. This research project aims to draw lessons learned from those multiple efforts in assessing whether securing a measure of ‘justice’ for the victims has been successful and how national…

This week the regional court in The Hague gave a ruling that has attracted international attention. The State of the Netherlands (Ministry of Social Affairs) was taken to court by two famous writers, Wieringa and Februari, several NGOs and a trade union.

The research project MAXCAP: Maximizing the integration capacity of the European Union: Lessons and prospects for enlargement and beyond starts with a critical analysis of the effects of the 2004-2007 enlargement on stability, democracy and prosperity of candidate countries, on the one hand, and the…

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.

Writing a book on the recent history of Leiden University in corona times. For educational and policy historian Pieter Slaman (34), this has meant working in the attic of his parents’ house while they looked after his daughter, along with numerous online conversations and very few, if any, visits to…

Over the past five years, medical anthropologist Annemarie Samuels has studied palliative care in different parts of the world. Over the next five years, she will focus on end-of-life care in the Netherlands. 'Everyone has the right to good care at the end of their life, but what that means differs…

The staff of the Europa Institute possess extensive expertise on European Union law and European Human Rights law generally. Current research focuses on five areas of particular relevance for European integration.

In 2025, the Europa Institute successfully helped apply for an ICM+ grant allowing student and staff exchange between Leiden and the Diego Portales University, one of the leading universities in Chile.

On 22 May, Olga Ceran and Vicky Kosta gave a lecture for the Eurodoc Ambassador Programme for Values and Democracy in European Research and Higher Education (ValDem). The lecture focused on discussing the protection of academic freedom in the EU from a legal perspective, including the recent proposals…

Peter Rodrigues contributed a chapter 'Human Rights and the Best Interests of the Child in European Family Reunification Law' in the book by Bergamini E., Ragni C. (Eds.), Fundamental Rights and Best Interests of the Child in Transnational Families.

De discussie over de sluiting van illegale schietbanen van Defensie, als gevolg van de stikstofwetgeving is ingewikkeld en omvat diverse juridische aspecten. Armin Cuyvers, hoogleraar Europeesrecht, bespreekt de zaak in BNR-Nieuwsradio.

The master programme was officially opened by H.E. Kees Klompenhouwer – the Ambassador of the Netherlands to the Czech Republic. During his lecture, entitled “Traveling through Europe’s darkness and daylight – A geopolitical Odyssey”, Ambassador Klompenhouwer shared valuable insights on the history…

Lecture, European Union Seminar

Meet Rosa: pleading (successfully!) in an LGBTQIA+ case before the CJEU as an early-career lawyer

On 5 December 2019 Melanie Fink, researcher at the Europa Institute, spoke at the Conference organised by The Academic Network on EU Agencies & Institutional Innovation.

On Saturday 25 June 2016, the Europa Institute hosted the 55th Leiden-London Meeting, with the overall title:

As of 1 May 2025 Dr. Vasiliki Kosta has been appointed member of the standing Committee for Freedom of Scientific Practice (Commissie voor Vrijheid van Wetenschapsbeoefening - CVW) of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW).

Vasiliki Kosta participated in the García Pelayo Seminar of the Center for Political and Constitutional Studies, Madrid entitled: ‘Discretionary Powers and Judicial Review: What Destiny for the Principle of Proportionality?’

As part of her doctoral studies at the University of Copenhagen, Dr Rebekka Byberg explored the history of the Common Market Law Review from 1963 to 1993 in an engaging article which illustrates the evolution of European law as an academic discipline.

Denemarken wordt binnen de EU als voorbeeld van streng migratiebeleid gezien. Universitair docent Immigratierecht, Mark Klaassen waarschuwt in een BNR-artikel dat het Deense model valse verwachtingen creëert en weinig kans biedt op grootschalige toepassing.

On 13 June 2024, the University of Tuscia (Viterbo, Italy) hosted a doctoral seminar in the series 'Law and Artificial Intelligence', organised by the PhD programme in 'Law of European and Global Markets. Crisis, Rights, Regulation' and coordinated by Professor Rosa Ruggiero.

On March 18 2016 Pieter van Cleynenbreugel and Maarten Aalbers discussed recent developments in EU internal market law and EU state aid law at the International Colloquium on EU Law.

On 2 June 2023, the Liber Amicorum – 'The EU and the WTO: Ever the Twain Shall Meet' – in honour of Marco Bronckers will be officially launched at Leiden Law School. To mark this special occasion, an interactive discussion on 'Five future challenges facing the EU and the WTO in the next 50 years' will…

On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the Common Market Law Review, the Editors of the Review hosted a one-day conference on 'Membership of the European Union: Implication, Challenges, Boundaries' on Friday, 9 June 2023. EU law scholars from different countries all over Europe…

On 9 November 2019 Melanie Fink, researcher at the Europa Institute, delivered a key note lecture at this year’s Advanced ELENA Course.

Assistant professor Daniel Schade of Leiden University was a guest on various German-language media outlets, discussing the state of the Schengen Agreement after 30 years.

Between January and April 2017 Armin Cuyvers (Assistant Professor of European Law) will be a Visiting Fellow at the European Political Strategy Centre (EPSC), the in-house think-tank of European Commission President Juncker.

Book project on how European policy is made and implemented, with a focus on how that process can be understood and lead to policy change.

This open access book explores the role of continuity in political processes and practices during the Age of Revolutions.

Lecture, European Union Seminar / CHEI Seminar

Hoe kan het dat universele mensenrechten wereldwijd niet hetzelfde in de praktijk worden gebracht?

Recently, the German Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) issued its second preliminary reference to the Court of Justice of the European Union. Following its earlier reference on the European Central Bank’s bond buying programme Outright Monetary Transactions, the German court now…

On 27 February 2025, Melanie Fink took part in a Workshop on ‘Lawyering for change - but what change exactly?’ that took place at the University of Amsterdam and was organised by Pola Cebulak, Marta Morvillo, and Stefan Salomon.

For many years, human rights have mostly been a theme where states constituted the most important actors. Influenced by globalisation and the worldwide integration of the economy, multinational corporations have grown to feel more responsible for compliance to human rights.

Vasiliki Kosta moderated the launch of the book ‘Judicial authority in EU Internal Market Law: Implications for the balance of competences and powers’ written by Dr Vilija Velyvyte (British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the Faculty of Law, University of Oxford) at Brasenose College, University of Oxford,…

Dr Olga Ceran has been selected as a 2025/26 Mellon/SAR Academic Freedom Fellow. As one of 11 fellows in this year’s cohort, she will work on a project titled ‘The Linguistic Dimension of Academic Freedom: A Human Rights Analysis of Higher
Education in Europe’.

On 8 July 2021, The Francophone Association of Ombudspersons (L’Association des Ombudsmans et des Médiateurs de la Francophonie (AOMF)) launched their online course platform (CLOM) and training course 'Faire vivre les droits de l’enfant: des clés pour l’action'.

On Friday 2 June 2023, the Europa Institute launched the Liber Amicorum – “The EU and the WTO: Ever the Twain Shall Meet” – in honour of Marco Bronckers. To mark the special occasion, a panel discussion on five major challenges facing the EU and the WTO in the next fifty years was held.

On Wednesday 23 September 2020, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte gave an online lecture together with Professor Afshin Ellian as part of the course Introduction to Law. The lecture had the title ‘The European Union in times of coronavirus’, and the Prime Minister answered questions from students. Hundreds…

Political scientist Karolina Pomorska (Institute of Political Science, Leiden University) has been awarded a Jean Monnet Chair. The aim of her chair, entitled The EU and the World, is to promote and strengthen teaching and research in European Studies in Leiden and in The Hague.

The contribution ‘Article 50 TEU and Brexit: the legal contours of a political drama’ is the most read article of the Dutch Journal for EU Law (NtER).

Every autumn EUS students take the train down to our southern neighbours to learn the secrets of European Union institutions. They get to hear tips about landing a job in Brussels, learn things about EU institutions that cannot be found in the textbooks, meet important contacts, and get inspiration…

At a recent meeting, the leaders of the European Union formally approved Ukraine and Moldova’s candidate status to join the bloc. The message is: you are welcome to join our European family in due course.

On 2 and 3 September 2016, the International Conference on ASEAN Development (ICAD) 2016 took place in Leiden. The conference aimed to draw comparative lessons from the EU for the development of the ASEAN Economic Community, which was launched in 2015.

The Europa Institute is honoured to announce that a Leiden alumna has received an award from the Nederlandse Vereniging voor Europees Recht (NVER) for her master thesis.

The Thomson Reuters Journal Citation reports for 2015 are now available.In the field of law Common Market Law Review (CML Rev) is the highest ranked non-US law journal. CML Rev is also the highest ranked journal on European Law. On Google scholar, CML Rev is ranked # 1 in the top journals on European…