At a recent meeting, the leaders of the European Union formally approved Ukraine and Moldova’s candidate status to join the bloc. The message is: you are welcome to join our European family in due course.

During the 80th session of the Geneva-based Institut de Droit International, Aleydis Nissen was awarded the Andrés Bello Prize. The competition was established by James Brown Scott in 1931 and is carried out under the auspices of the Institut.

This is the eleventh time that the Moot Court Challenge Cup has been awarded! This time for best counsel in academic year 2022-2023.

Vanessa mak knaw

Der Spiegel reports about the planned reform of the EU Code of Conduct aimed at tackling harmful tax practices of EU Member States. A reform is urgently needed to tackle remaining forms of tax competition, which cost EU countries billons of euros every year.

The suspects of the fatal assault on Mallorca will be investigated in the Netherlands. If the Dutch Public Prosecution Service sees sufficient reason to prosecute the suspects, then a Dutch court will consider the case.

Lecture

Free trade negotiations and agreements are important instruments of EU trade policy. An increasing number of EU climate, environmental and sustainable development objectives play a role in free trade agreements.

One week ago a group of Dutch men were attacked out of the blue by another group of Dutch tourists on the Spanish island of Mallorca. One of the victims later died as a result of his injuries. The Spanish police know who the suspects are, but those men are in the Netherlands.

The International Astronautical Congress (IAC) that took place last week in Paris was extremely successful for IIASL.

Are you already using the Luris Contract Tool? It is a handy program that allows you to easily draft your own research-related contracts, like Confidentiality Agreements (CDA), certain Material Transfer Agreements (MTA) and newly added per November 17th: Consultancy Agreements. In addition to these…

How do you increase the EU’s EQ so that citizens and countries feel a greater sense of belonging and safety in the EU, and the countries work better together? To answer this question, Professor of European Law Armin Cuyvers works, among others, with social psychologists. Inaugural lecture on 9 Decem…

Fishermen in the United Kingdom recently protested about the adverse effects of Brexit on their trade. It would be naive to think that covert feelings of being under threat do not exist among the Dutch population. Citizens who feel threatened become defensive, a situation that could lead to a Nexit.

Lecture

Leiden Law Cast is a podcast made by Leiden Law School, Leiden University, for everyone who wants to learn more about current legal issues.

Organisation

The 2024 Thorbecke Lecture was held on Friday 19 April, with the theme of ‘The role of the Court of Justice in protecting the consumer’. Before the lecture, students from Leiden Law School and Ghent University’s Faculty of Law competed in a Moot Court competition based on the same topic.

Members of Parliament will soon be discussing with various organisations what the Netherlands can do to stop pushbacks, a policy where migrants are forced back at the European borders.

The EU is aiming to deter economic coercion with a new legal instrument. Freya Baetens will elucidate this in her inaugural lecture on October 27th.

The design for the METIS instrument for the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) is final. The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has given the green light for production of all parts of the instrument. It is the first ELT instrument, designed and to be built under Dutch leadership, to formally pass the…

A controversial video in which PowNed asks Taylor Swift fans how far they would go for a meet-and-greet with the singer violates portrait rights according to Jeroen ten Voorde in Dutch newspaper ‘NRC’.

On Saturday 25 June, the Europa Institute of Leiden University hosted the 61st Leiden-London Meeting, an annual event organized jointly by the Europa Institute and the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL). This year’s meeting had “Interdependence, cooperation and strategic…

The League of European Research Universities (LERU) was launched in Leiden 20 years ago. LERU is a partnership of 23 leading research universities, including the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Leiden, Leuven and Heidelberg. It celebrated this anniversary last week with a multi-day conference in…

The Dutch Ministry of Finance says that new rules have significantly reduced tax avoidance via 'transit country' the Netherlands. Jan Vleggeert, Professor of Tax Law, has voiced his reservations about this claim in the media.

Federica Antoniani is the recipient of the very first MA thesis prize awarded by Leiden University’s Europe Hub. She received the prize for her thesis entitled 'Accounting for Accountability: Europol between Protecting Personal Data and Fostering Innovative Artificial Intelligence for Law Enforcement…

Within the scope of innovating and connecting – the theme of our new Strategic Plan – I paid a visit to Brussels last week. It is important to give Leiden University a face in Brussels and to show our expertise, on Africa for instance.

According to a recent court ruling, the reception of asylum applicants in the Netherlands is not in line with European requirements. The Dutch Government must take measures to amend the situation. What are the problems concerning the reception of asylum applicants and how realistic are the court’s d…

On the 1 June 2021, Professor Eric De Brabandere and Dr Daniel Peat of the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies of Leiden Law School launched the Leiden Investment Treaty Arbitration Database.

The Board of Governors is pleased to announce that Professor Cisca Wijmenga has been appointed by outgoing Minister of Education, Culture and Science Robbert Dijkgraaf as its new member.

Investigations conducted by several Dutch child protection bodies within family situations are inadequate. Due to lack of knowledge, time and money, these investigations are not carried out properly, with major consequences for the families involved.

The Board of Governors of Leiden University is pleased to announce that the outgoing Minister of Education, Culture and Science, Robbert Dijkgraaf, has appointed Professor F.B.J. (Ferd) Grapperhaus as the new Chair of the Board of Governors.