EUNMUTE Doctoral and Early-Career Scholars Workshop
“Standing Up for the Voiceless? Exploring the EU’s Capacity for Rights Protection”
Brussels – June 10th & 11th
Room P02 (119 rue du marais, Préfecture building, ground floor)
The EUNMUTE Doctoral and Early-Career Scholars Workshop is a scientific event organized by the Institute for European Studies at UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles, as part of the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence “Un-Muting Europe” (EUNMUTE). EUNMUTE is an interdisciplinary platform that brings together experts in European Union politics and law. It aims to investigate the EU’s ability to advocate for and/or to promote the rights of the “muted”, which refers to individuals or entities often overlooked, silenced, outnumbered, outpowered, or otherwise marginalized in national political discourses and decision-making processes.
The project addresses fundamental issues relating to the quality of democracy in Europe, focusing more specifically on the protection of marginalized voices. It raises key questions such as:
- To what extent does the EU currently serve as an alternative political arena for various categories of « voiceless » (e.g., women and sexual minorities, youth, future generations, third-country nationals, non-human living beings)?
- Does the EU’s proclaimed empowering capacity contribute to the creation of an “unmuting narrative”, adding to the legitimacy of the EU itself?
About the Workshop
The workshop will gather doctoral researchers and early-career scholars in fields such as law, political science, sociology, political philosophy, or EU studies to contribute to an engaging discussion on the European Union’s role in protecting fundamental rights through the concept of EU’s “un-muting power”. The workshop will explore whether and how the EU has been a driver of un-muting, and how voicelessness has been tackled in a number of policy domains such as natural resources preservation, safeguard of the rule of law and migration and asylum. Beyond the specificity of each case-study, the workshop aims to explore the very narrative according to which the EU can amplify the voices of marginalized and unheard groups. The workshop is structured around six panels that will help shape the event’s overall focus.
Programme
MONDAY JUNE 10th
9:00 – 9:30 – Arrivals & Coffee
9:30 – 10:00 – Welcome Speech & Introduction
Cecilia Rizcallah (Professor in Law, UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles) & Denis Duez (Professor in Political Science, UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles)
10:00 – 12:00 – Panel #1 – Inclusion & Discriminations in the Digital Era
Chair: Cecilia Rizcallah (Professor in Law, UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles)
- Valentina Golunova (Lecturer in Public Law, Maastricht University), “Silencing Falsehoods: Enhancing the EU’s Unmuting Power through Tackling Online Gendered Disinformation”
- Stevi Kitsou, (PhD Researcher, Maastricht University), “The EU’s Fight Against Hate: Protecting the Marginalised?”
- Tiphaine Maloingne (PhD Researcher, Université de Lorraine), “From passivity to empowerment of the European patient in the light of new digital challenges”
- Sibylle Pouillaude (PhD Researcher, Paris-Panthéon-Assas University), “Empowering Minorities by Safeguarding their Intimate Privacy: Unveiling the Role of the Right to be Forgotten in the European Union”
Discussants:
- Sophie Jacquot (Professor in Political Science, UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles)
- Nathan Genicot (postdoctoral researcher, Vrije Universiteit Brussel)
12:00 – 13:15 – Lunch Break
13:15 – 15:15 – Panel #2 – Environment (1/2): Protecting Future Generations and Non-Human
Chair : Clément Fontan (Professor in Political Science, UCLouvain)
- Campolmi, Alice, (PhD Student in EU Law, University of Florence), “Environment and Future Generations: which path to follow to protect their interests in EU law?”
- Norman Vander Putten (Post-doctoral Research Fellow, Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research (FRS-FNRS) and Lecturer, UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles), “Defining the green to make future generations heard? The EU’s environmental classification systems of economic activities as a bottom-up conception of sustainability”
- Tom Buytaert (Teaching and research assistant, UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles), “Unmuting the environment in EU competition law: considering future generations of consumers when assessing sustainable cooperation initiatives”
Discussants:
- Amandine Orsini (Professor in Political Science, UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles)
- Antoine Bailleux (Professor in Law, UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles)
15:15 – 15:30 – Coffee Break
15:30 – 18:00 – Panel #3 – Environment (2/2): Protecting Protectors
Chair : Amandine Orsini (Professor in Political Science, UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles)
- Amanda Kron (PhD Candidate in Law, Lund University), “Whose just transition? Analysing the protection of environmental defenders in the European Green Deal”
- Maxime Tecqmenne (PhD Candidate in Law, ULg & visiting student at EUI), “Who is going to stand up for the environment? On the difficulty to translate collective environmental interests into individual subjective rights”
- Costanza De Caro (PhD student in Criminal Procedure, University of Florence), “Access to justice for victims of environmental crime: to whom and to what extent does EU law recognize legal standing in environmental criminal matters?”
- Gane, Arnaud (PhD student in Political Science, UCLouvain Saint-Louis), “Who can talk about wild nature in Europe? Hear the many voices of those affected by conservation projects”
Discussants:
- Delphine Misonne (Professor in Law, UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles)
- Benedikte Zitouni (Professor of Sociology, UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles)
19:30 – Dinner with participants (paper-givers, discussants & chairs)
TUESDAY JUNE 11th
8:30 – 9:00 – Arrivals & Coffee
9:00 – 10:15 – Panel #4 – Rule of Law
Chair: Antoine Bailleux (Professor in Law, UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles)
- Kovacs, Anita (PhD student in EU Law, University of Liège), EU citizenship as a complementary rule of law instrument to un-mute the Hungarian electorate?
- Timothée Ceurremans (Attaché international relations, Federal Public Service Interior, Kingdom of Belgium and teaching and research assistant in EU law, UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles) & Elisabeth David (Legal officer, Federal Public Service Justice, Kingdom of Belgium and teaching and research assistant in Belgian Constitutional Law, UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles), “Article 10(3) TEU: Unlocking untapped potential to safeguard muted citizens’ democratic rights”
Discussants:
- Ramona Coman (Professor in Political Science, Université libre de Bruxelles)
- Mathieu Leloup (Professor Grondwettelijk Recht, Universiteit Gent)
10:15 – 10:30 – Coffee Break
10:30 – 12:45 – Panel #5 – Migration & Asylum (1/2)
Chair : Florence Delmotte (F.R.S.-FNRS, UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles)
- Emiliya Bratanova (PhD Candidate in Law, Lund University), “Legal Pathways in EU Law: Enhancing the Protection of Refugees or Yet Another Border?”
- Maxime Maréchal, (PhD in sociolinguistics, Université Paris Cité), “The Common European Asylum System, a legal basis for the provision of crucial interpreters in the French asylum procedure”
- Silvia Rizzuto Ferruzza (PhD student in EU Law, University of Luxembourg and University of Bologna), “Echoes of the Voiceless: Depicting the Role of the EU vis-à-vis the Frontex Mandate Through the Lens of Recent CJEU Developments”
- Sarah Craig (Lecturer in Law, Ulster University, Belfast), “The Trajectory of LGBTI+ Asylum Claims before the CJEU: Assessing the Un-Muting Potential”
Discussants:
- Sylvie Sarolea (Professor in Law, UCLouvain)
- Juliette Dupont (Postdoctoral researcher, F.R.S.-FNRS, UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles)
12:45 – 13:45 – Lunch Break
13:45 – 15:45 – Panel #6 – Migration & Asylum (2/2)
Chair: Denis Duez (Professor in Political Science, UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles)
- Caroline Leclercq (PhD Researcher in EU Migration Law, ULB & UCLouvain), “The refugee resettlement selection process: Will the new European framework be a gamechanger in giving voice to refugees?”
- Zoé Briard (PhD Researcher, F.R.S.-FNRS, UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles), “The respect of human rights in processes of planned relocation as an adaptation strategy to climate change in Europe”
- Tehseen Jäger (PhD Researcher in Political Science, University of Salzburg), “Protecting the weak or blow to their cheek? Assessing the Impact of the Employers Sanction Directive (2009/52/EC) – Deterring Irregular Migration or Protecting Migrant Workers from Exploitation?”
Discussants:
- Lilian Tsourdi (Associate Professor in Law, Maastricht University)
- Denis Duez (Professor in Political Science, UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles)
15:45 – 16:15 – Concluding Remarks
Cecilia Rizcallah (Professor in Law, UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles) & Florence Delmotte (F.R.S.-FNRS, UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles)
16:15 – 17:15 – Farewell Cocktail
Supported by the Ecole doctorale thématique en études européennes F.R.S.-FNRS
This event is organized with the support of the Erasmus+ program of the European Union (101047658 – EUNMUTE – ERASMUS-JMO-2021-HEI-TCH-RSCH).