Examining the EU’s rule of law toolkit and its effectiveness in tackling democratic backsliding across the European Union.

The Irish Centre for European Law (“ICEL”) will host a Rule of Law Conference on 4 November 2026 (4pm-5.30pm) with a networking reception to follow (5.30-6.30pm) at Europe House, Chatham St, Dublin 2. The Conference is designed to examine the European Union’s rule of law toolkit, with a particular focus on infringement proceedings under Article 258 TFEU, the Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation, and the Article 7 TEU procedure and to consider how effectively these instruments are holding up against democratic backsliding across the Union, with particular reference to Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Italy, Malta and Romania.

The Conference will comprise of a panel discussion concluding with a short opportunity for audience engagement.

We are delighted to confirm the following panel speakers:

(i) Professor Laurent Pech. Professor Pech is Full Professor of Law, Dean of Law and Head of the Sutherland School of Law. He is also a Visiting Professor of Law at Bordeaux University, a Senior Research Fellow at the CEU Democracy Institute in Budapest, and the co-director of The Good Lobby Profs which he co-founded in 2021. From 2018 to 2022, Laurent was a member of a H2020 funded four-year multidisciplinary research project on “Reconciling Europe with its Citizens through Democracy and the Rule of Law” (RECONNECT). He is currently a member of the editorial board of the Hague Journal on the Rule of Law, a member of the advisory board of RECLAIM (Human Rights NGO based in Brussels) and a member of the international advisory boards of GEM-DIAMON (EU Horizon funded research project) and RESILIO (Resilience observatory on the rule of law in Europe funded by Stiftung Mercator). Laurent has been a visiting professor at many institutions, including his alma mater: Aix-Marseille University and most recently, the University of Bologna.

(ii) Benedetta Lobina. Ms Lobina is a doctoral researcher and lecturer at the Sutherland School of Law, University College Dublin, and an adjunct assistant professor in law at Trinity College Dublin. She holds an LLM(Research) and MA in Legal Studies and Politics from the University of Aberdeen. Her doctoral thesis explored different varieties of rule of law violations across several EU Member States, building a taxonomy of rule of law crises and proposing an enforcement roadmap to best address these issues at EU level. Her broader research includes co-authored studies on topics such as judicial independence and freedom of expression (including on behalf of the European Parliament), and peer reviewed journal articles and online publications on a broad range of rule of law related topics, such as illiberal democracy; the impact of backsliding in Hungary and Poland on the EU’s response to Russia’s war of aggression; and the state of the rule of law in specific countries (Italy, Malta).

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If you have any queries about this Conference, please email icel@tcd.ie.

There are 1.5 CPD points available for this Conference.

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Description supplied by the event organiser.