Ruling European external borders, between rule of law crisis and accountability gaps

• Department of Law

This conference explores the emergence of a rule of law crisis at the external borders, as well as the question of access to justice and the challenges posed by digitalisation to the rule of law.

The management of the external borders is a vulnerable and contested policy. The evidence emerging from the scrutiny over the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex, raises serious questions on the respect of the rule of law at the EU’s external borders. Other agencies, such as the EU Asylum Agency and EU-LISA, face similar issues. Moreover, other trends such as externalisation and digitalisation of controls, and the increased reliance on Artificial Intelligence technologies, complicate the efforts to scrutinise the discretion exercised by those actors, and their compliance with their legal obligations.

The aim of this conference is to build a reflection on these topics. It will tackle the emergence of a rule of law crisis at the external borders, the question of access to justice followed by the challenges posed by digitalisation to the rule of law; finally, it addresses accountability gaps and explores possible solutions.