Constitutions in the Crosshairs: Europe in 2018
Europe, as a distinct political and economic body as well as a collection of separate states, is facing constitutional challenges from within and without. Brexit, Catalonia, Poland, Hungary, and Romania - as well as events within the European Union itself - all present callenges to European principles of constitutionalism.
Three notable European scholars spoke at this event, discussing Europe's current constitutional crossroads. The panel was co-sponsored by the Center for Comparative Legal Studies and Post-Conflict Peacebuilding and the European University Institute.
Joseph H. H. Weiler, the Joseph Straus Professor of Law and European Union Jean Monnet Chair, and the Co-Director of the Jean Monnet Center for International and Regional Economic Law and Justice at New York University Law School. Professor Joseph Weiler is one of the foremost scholars on European Union constitutional issues. He has served as a member of the Committee of Jurists of the Institutional Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, and co-drafted the European Parliament's Declaration of Human Rights and Freedoms and Parliament's input to the Maastricht Intergovernmental Conference.
Professor Weiler is a recognized international expert on issues of European integration, globalization and democracy. He is the author of numerous articles and books in the fields of international, comparative, and European law and previously served as the President of the European University Institute in Florence, Italy and as an independent member of the Governance Council for FIFA.
José M. de Areilza is a Professor of Law and the Jean Monnet Chair at ESADE, Ramón Llull University in Barcelona, is a Jean Monnet Visiting Professor at William & Mary Law School, and is the Secretary General at the Aspen Institute España.
Professor de Areilza has written extensively about European integration, EU decision making, and institutional reform. He is a member of the European Council on Foreign Relations and a Senior Research Fellow at Elcano Royal Institute. In 2016 he was appointed Academy Adjunct Faculty at the Royal Institute of International Affairs - Chatham House, London. He serves as the Chairman of the British-Spanish Tertulias and formerly served as Advisor to the Spanish Prime Minister on European and North American Affairs.
Elena Brodeala is a Ph.D. candidate at the European University Institute in Florence and LL.M. candidate at Yale Law School. She focuses on constitutional developments in the field of gender equality in Romania, Hungary, and Poland. She served as the Founder of the Constitutionalism and Politics Working Group at the European University Institute and as a researcher at the Central European University in Budapest.