Conference about immigration, laudatio in honour of Sir Stephen Sedley
The immigration, one of the crucial problems that along with the economic crisis and “Brexit” are testing these days the consistency of the European Union, was the subject of a conference organized on Spetses island of Greece by the European Group of Public Law (EGPL), which serves as the EPLO scientific advisory body, during its 27th anniversary Reunion. (The EGPL was formed in 1989).
The conference on the subject “Rights across Borders: Citizenship and Immigration in Europe” was held at the premises of the Anargyreios Korgialeneios School, on September 9 and 10, 2016, with the participation of over 150 judges, jurists, law academics and practitioners from around the world, all leading figures in their field.
The reports of the Conference were presented and discussed in four sessions as follows:
First session: “General Introduction: From National Membership to Territorial Belonging: The Rights (and Costs) of Immigrants between Democracy (or National Self-Determination) and Human Rights: The Specialty of Migration Law”.
- President: Prof. A. Guerra Martins, University of Lisbon, Portugal.
General rapporteurs:
- Prof. M. Brenner, University of Jena, Germany,
- Prof. R. Lanceiro, University of Lisbon, Portugal and
- Prof. M. Savino, Università degli Studi della Tuscia, Italy.
At the beginning of the session, the Mayor of Spetses Mr. Panayiotis Lyrakis addressed a welcome message to the delegates.
Second session: “National Membership. Acquisition and Loss of Nationality”.
- President: Mr. C. Clerides, Attorney General, Cyprus.
General rapporteurs:
- Prof. E. Ersbøll, Danish Institute for Human Rights, Denmark and
- Prof. F. Goudappel, University of Curaçao, Kingdom of the Netherlands.
- Mr. Dimitris Tsoukalas, Deputy Secretary-General at the Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reform intervened at the beginning of this session.
Third session: “Territorial Belonging. Inclusion and Exclusion from State Territories”.
- President: Mr. László Trócsányi, Minister of Justice, Hungary.
General rapporteurs:
- Prof. V. Beširevic & Prof. T. Papic, Union University Belgrade, Serbia,
- Prof. J.W. de Zwaan, Erasmus University Rotterdam and The Hague University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands,
- Prof. M. Gautier & Mr. M. Guyomar, Conseillers d’Etat, Conseil d’Etat, France and
- Prof. K. Wojtyczek, Judge of the European Court of Human Rights, Jagiellonian University, Poland.
Fourth session: General Conclusions
- President: Prof. D. Tarschys, Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies, Sweden.
- Conclusions by: Prof. L. M. DíezPicazo, President of the Administrative Law Division of the Spanish Supreme Court.
Fifth session: Report on the activities of the EPLO and Other administrative matters.
- President: Ms. Maryvonne de Saint Pulgent, Président de Section, Conseil d’Etat, France.
During the session awarded the winner of “Thesis Prize” 2015 to Mr Frédéric Bouhon for the thesis "Electoral Law and the principle of equality. The election of national legislative assemblies in German, Belgian and British law", presented at the University of Liège under the direction of Professor Behrendt.
A prize of honor (a special distinction) was awarded to the thesis of Dolores Utrilla, entitled "Expropriation and private beneficiaries: constitutional bases, administrative regime and European Law" supported by the University of Castile-La Mancha of Spain under the direction of Professor Luis Ortega Álvarez.
The Conference was concluded with the Laudatio in honor of Sir Stephen Sedley, one of the most important legal personalities of Britain who served as Judge at the Court of Appeal of England and Wales from 1999 to 2011. He is currently a visiting professor at Oxford University and has authored several notable legal books.
