The 17th Reunion of the European Group of Public Law (EGPL) was held on 15 - 17 September 2006. The Minister of Interior, Public Administration and Decentralization, Prof. P. Pavlopoulos, member of the EGPL, attended and addressed the Conference. The Conference was also addressed by the Minister of National Education and Religious Affairs, Mrs. Marietta Giannakou, as well as by His Beatidude the Archbishop of Athens and all of Greece, Mr. Christodoulos.
During the Reunion, the reports of the Conference organized by the EGPL on the subject “Citizenship in the European Union” were presented and discussed. More than 200 participants, among others many academics, professors, government representatives, as well as old and new members coming from European and non-European countries attended the yearly meeting of the European Group of Public Law.
Thesis Prize
During the Thesis Prize meeting held for the 14th time since its foundation in 1993, Dr. Silvère Lefèvre was awarded the Thesis Prize 2005, while Dr. Sophia Papapolychroniou and Dr. Roman Arestovich Petrov were awarded the Special Distinctions 2005. The Prize Committee, presided by Prof. A. Masucci proposed to award the Thesis Prize 2006 to Dr. Christian Behrendt, Université de Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne), France, for his thesis Le juge constitutionnel, un législateur - cadre positif. Une analyse comparative en droit français, belge et allemand. Also, a special distinction was awarded to Dr. Didier Ribes, Université Paul Cézanne, Aix Marseille III, for his thesis L’état protecteur des droits fondamentaux. Recherche en droit comparé sur les effets des droits fondamentaux entre personnes privées; and to Dr. Jo Eric Khushal Murkens, European University Institute, for his thesis Contested Constitutional Concepts: State Constitution Sovereignty in Germany and the United Kingdom and the European Challenge.
Laudatio
Following a tradition of laudatios, during the Reunion 2006 the EGPL honored Prof. P.D. Dagtoglou, Emeritus Professor of the University of Athens, and a distinguished member of the EGPL, with laudatios pronounced by Prof. M. Fromont, Prof. E. Schmidt-Assmann, Sir J. Laws and Prof. S. Flogaitis during a warm and modest ceremony.
The 17th Reunion of the EGPL proved to be very succesful. The conference was followed by a 1-day visit to the Acropolis and the Archaeological museum, where the participants admired the unique ancient beauties. The next Reunion titled “European Security”will be held on 14 - 16 Septemeber 2007.
