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School of Law

Meet our Professors - Professor Valsamis Mitsilegas - EU Criminal Law After Lisbon. Rights, Trust and the Transformation of Justice in Europe

9 June 2016

Time: 6:30 - 8:30pm
Venue: Arts Two Lecture Theatre, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS

Join Valsamis Mitsilegas, Professor of European Criminal Law, for his Inaugural Lecture.

The lecture will be followed by a drinks reception with a book launch.

Lecture Synopsis - 'EU Criminal Law after Lisbon. Rights, Trust and the Transformation of Justice in Europe.'

The entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty has introduced seismic constitutional changes in the field of EU criminal law. By focusing on key areas of criminal law and procedure, the lecture will assesses the extent to which the Lisbon Treaty has transformed European criminal justice and evaluate the impact of post-Lisbon legislation on national criminal justice systems. The lecture will address the new powers of the Union to harmonise substantive criminal law and the influence of European Union law on national substantive criminal law; the Europeanisation of prosecution from horizontal co-operation between national criminal justice to forms of vertical integration in the field of prosecution as embodied in the evolution of Eurojust and the establishment of a European Public Prosecutor's Office; the operation of the principle of mutual recognition (by focusing in particular on the European Arrest Warrant System) and its impact on the relationship between mutual trust and fundamental rights; and the relationship between mutual recognition and harmonisation of criminal procedure, in particular via the adoption of EU law on defence rights. Informed by the challenges of a potential Brexit, the lecture will address the impact of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights on the constitutionalisation of EU criminal law after Lisbon and highlight the possibilities that the Lisbon Treaty opens for the development of a new paradigm of European criminal justice, which places the individual (and not the state), and the protection of fundamental rights (and not security) at its core.

Discussants

  • Advocate General Eleanor Sharpston QC, Court of Justice of the European Union.
  • Professor Marise Cremona, Professor of European Law and formerly President ad interim, European University Institute.
  • Professor Jörg Monar, Rector, College of Europe.

Meet the Professor

Valsamis Mitsilegas is Professor of European Criminal Law, Director of the Criminal Justice Centre and, since 2012, Head of the Department of Law at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL). From 2001 to 2005 he was legal adviser to the House of Lords European Union Committee. His research interests and expertise lie in the fields of European criminal law; migration, asylum and borders; security and human rights, including the impact of mass surveillance on privacy; and legal responses to transnational and organised crime. His work explores the impact of Europeanisation and globalisation on the relationship between the individual and the state. He is the author of six monographs and over 100 articles and chapters in academic volumes. His latest monographs are The Criminalisation of Migration in Europe (Springer, 2015) and EU Criminal Law After Lisbon (Hart, 2016). Professor Mitsilegas has assumed a leading role in the establishment and development of a number of transnational research networks and is currently Co-Coordinator of the European Criminal Law Academic Network (ECLAN). He is a regular adviser to parliaments, governments and EU institutions and agencies including the European Commission, the European Parliament and the EU Fundamental Rights Agency and is currently serving for a second term as a member of the European Commission’s Expert Group on Criminal Policy. His involvement with civil society includes collaborations with organisations including the Howard League for Penal Reform, the Immigration Law Practitioners' Association, the European Movement and Open Democracy. In February 2016, he was guest editor to the Open Democracy week on Surveillance and Privacy in 2016. Other media appearances include BBC Radio 4, the Times Higher Education Supplement, the New Statesman and the New York Times.

Directions

For directions to the venue, please refer to the map.

How to book

This event is free but prior booking is required. Register online via Eventbrite.

Contact

For more information on this event, please email lawevents@qmul.ac.uk.


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