This event brings together the presentation of two books, each originating from a PhD thesis in Law at the EUI: 'Environmental NGOs and Access to Justice before the CJEU' and 'Legal Mobilization for Migrant Rights: Opportunities and Barriers at the European Court of Justice'.
'Environmental NGOs and Access to Justice Before the CJEU'
This book tells a fascinating legal mobilisation story. Analysing EU environmental litigation over the last 30 years, it illustrates how the European environmental movement has patiently attempted and succeeded in expanding access to justice opportunities before the EU Courts. This is despite the longstanding reluctance of the EU Court of Justice to soften its standing requirements for private applicants bringing cases directly to Luxembourg. This research draws on both doctrinal analysis and qualitative methods of socio-legal inquiry. At its heart are interviews with key stakeholders: environmental lawyers, plaintiffs, and activists, which give an invaluable and innovative perspective on strategic litigation before the EU judiciary. With the growing emergency posed by the climate crisis and resultant increased litigation, this book makes a significant scholarly contribution to the study of environmental movements, to our conceptualisation of legal mobilisation, and to our understanding of the impact of litigation in European environmental law. Cadmus permanent link.
'Legal Mobilization for Migrant Rights'
The European Court of Justice plays a key role in the interpretation and enforcement of EU law. Yet, we still know little about the conditions under which cases arrive at the Court via preliminary reference and why they are so unevenly distributed across the EU member states. Previous studies have shown how the legal elites played a central role in feeding the Court with cases to increase their power and influence. The book 'Legal Mobilization for Migrant Rights' tells a different story. Focusing on the migration domain, this book shows that EU litigation can also be used to defend powerless groups. To explore the conditions under which EU legal mobilisation for migrants emerges, the book compares three countries where EU migration law was mobilized before the European Court of Justice (Italy, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands) and one where it was not (Greece). Combining empirical and doctrinal methods, this volume draws on interviews with key stakeholders and an original database of 505 migration preliminary references. Rather than focusing only on courts, 'Legal Mobilization for Migrant Rights' sheds light on the role of lawyers, academics, and civil society in activating EU justice to oppose restrictive national migration policies. Crucially, the book ultimately reveals that EU legal mobilisation struggles to emerge in some contexts due to a lack of resources and limited awareness of EU legal opportunities, which stand as significant obstacles to justice and migrant rights enforcement. Cadmus permanent link.
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