News

14.02.2024

Foreign Direct Investment Seminar

Am Donnerstag, den 8.2.2024, fand in Frankfurt ein „Foreign Direct Investment Seminar“ statt. Das Seminar wurde von der Kanzlei Latham & Watkins in Kooperation mit dem Europa-Institut und dem Jean Monnet Chair  von Prof. Marc Bungenberg für Internationale Streitbeilegung und Rechtsstaatlichkeit durchgeführt und brachte Praktiker und Praktikerinnen aus verschiedensten Bereichen sowie Wissenschaftler und Wissenschaftlerinnen zusammen. Thematisiert wurden neben den aktuellen Entwicklungen im Bereich des „Inbound Investment Screenings“ in Frankreich, Italien und der Schweiz insbesondere auch die aktuellen Entwicklungen der deutschen Investitionskontrolle. Außerdem wurde über die chinesische Perspektive auf die europäische Industriepolitik berichtet. Nach der Mittagspause wurden dann noch die Themenblöcke eines potenziellen „Outbound Investment Screenings“ sowie die jüngst in Kraft getretene „Foreign Subsidies Regulation“ diskutiert. Wir danken allen für die guten Vorträge, die kritischen Anmerkungen und lebhaften Diskussionen!

10.01.2024

New Book Release

A new EYIEL Special Issue titled “New Frontiers for EU Investment Policy. External and Internal Dimensions”, edited by Marc Bungenberg and August Reinisch, has been published by Springer. This EYIEL Special Issue constitutes a collective volume that contains 10 contributions analysing the newest developments in EU investment policy in its internal and external dimension. Taken together, these 10 contributions show that the EU follows a multi-layered approach towards investment protection, which might be controversial or even contradictory at times. It also demonstrates how the EU is able to shape international investment law, inter alia, by burying intra-EU investment arbitration, by imposing new standards for Member States’ BITs and by guiding the multilateral reform efforts. Besides the two editors, numerous authors, such as Christoph Schreuer, Christoph Herrmann, Tim Ellemann, Christina Binder, Philipp Janig, Patricia Nacimiento, Catherine Kessedjian, Nikos Lavranos, Bianca Böhme, Lars Ruf, Nicolaj Kuplewatzky, Yuriy Pochtovyk and Lukas Stifter have contributed to this book, which is now available via the following link: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-41977-5#about-this-book 

21.12.2023

EIus-Juniorworkshops 2023/24

The EIus Junior Workshop, a cooperation with the Gymnasium am Rotenbühl, is entering the next round. In the winter semester 2023/24, numerous pupils from the ninth grade upwards visited us again to take part in workshops on European law. The topics this semester were "Protection of fundamental rights in the EU", "Fundamental freedoms" and a "European simulation game". In January, the students will be travelling to the European Parliament in Strasbourg together with Villa Lessing to experience Europe up close. Further information and impressions of the EIus Junior Workshop can be found here.

12.12.2023

INVESTinADR: Stakeholder Conference in Skopje

On 12 December, the chair of Prof. Dr. Marc Bungenberg organised together with our partner university Ss. Cyril and Methodius University a joint conference within the research project INVESTinADR at the Sekretariat for European Affairs in Skopje, North Macedonia. The aim of the conference was to discuss policy recommendations in the field of arbitration and mediation for the Republic of North Macedonia. Numerous stakeholders, including politicians, researchers, judges, arbitrators, mediatios and lawyers, attended the conference and gave valuable feedback on the results obtained by the project team.

More information can be found here. 

12.07.2023

PhD seminar

On 11 and 12 July, a PhD seminar in international economic law organised by the Jean Monnet Chair took place in Saarbrücken. More information on the seminar and generally on the activities of Prof. Bungenberg's Jean Monnet Chair can be found here.

10.07.2023

Excursion to Luxembourg

On 10 July 2023, the Jean Monnet Chair of Prof. Bungenberg organised together with Villa Lessing an excursion to the Court of Justice of the European Union. The pupils from the Gymnasium am Rotenbühl were able to learn a lot about the work and functioning of the Court of Justice and were thus able to further develop their knowledge of European law as part of the "Elus-Europa Junior Workshop". More impressions of the excursion and the "Elus-Europa-Juniorworkshop" can be found here.

27.06.2023

Expert Round Table in Skopje

On 26 and 27 June 2023, Prof. Bungenberg travelled together with 3 chair members to Skopje to participate in an Expert Round Table as part of the project "INVESTinADR". In Skopje, the team from Saarbrücken met with their partners in Skopje and presented together the progress of the project to numerous stakeholders from North Macedonia. More information on the project and the visit to Skopje can be found here. 

09.02.2023

Certificate award ceremony: EIus-Europe Junior Workshops

On February 9, 2023, the last event in the EIus-Europe Junior Workshops took place at the Europa-Institut. The students of the Saarbrücken Gymnasium am Rotenbühl dealt with the prerequisites for states to join the European Union in an interactive workshop. After a total of 3 European law units at the Europa-Institut, a rhetoric course, and a visit to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, the proud students received their certificate for the successful completion of the Elus-Europa-Junior workshops. The activity, conducted within the framework of the Jean Monnet Chair "EU Constitutional Framework for International Dispute Settlement and the Rule of Law", was a great pleasure for all participants. The chair team hopes to see you again soon for new workshops in the summer semester of 2023!

For more information on the EIus-Europe Junior Workshops, please click here

01.02.2023

Practitioners' Seminar: Investment Screening

A practitioners' seminar on the topic of investment control was held in Frankfurt on February 1, 2023. The event was organized by the law firm Latham & Watkins LLP in cooperation with the Jean Monnet Chair of International Dispute Resolution and Rule of Law of Prof. Dr. Marc Bungenberg and the Europa-Institut. The attending practitioners from the legal profession, academia, administration and business exchanged views on the fundamentals and their experience to date in investment control and the existing challenges in practice and academia. In addition, the developments in Austria and Switzerland were examined from a comparative law perspective. We would like to thank Latham Watkins for hosting the event and all participants for the insightful discussions.

23.01.2023

EIus - Europe Junior Workshop: Excursion to Strasbourg

On 17.1.2023, an excursion to Strasbourg organized by Villa Lessing - Liberale Stiftung Saar was on the agenda for the students participating in the "EIus - Europa-Juniorworkshop". After arriving at the parliament building, the group was explained everything important about the work and organization of the European Parliament by a speaker from the visitors' service, and the students were also given the opportunity to ask questions at any time. Afterwards, the group was able to follow a live vote during a visit to the plenary chamber. After the visit to the Parliament, the students explored Strasbourg on a guided tour by bus and on foot, where they learned a lot of interesting facts about the history of Strasbourg. We are already looking forward to the third workshop with the students, which will take place at the Europa-Institut in early February.

More impressions and general information about the EIus - Europa Junior Workshop can be found here.

29.09.2022

Conference: New Frontiers for EU Investment Policy

On 19 and 20 September 2022, a conference with the title "New Frontiers for EU Investment Policy: Internal and External Dimensions" took place in the Juridicum of the University of Vienna. The conference was organised by Prof. Dr Marc Bungenberg LL.M., Director of the Europa-Institut at Saarland University, and Prof. Dr August Reinisch LL.M. from the University of Vienna.

Similar conferences on EU investment policy issues had already taken place in 2016 and 2019. To the joy of the organisers and attendees, this year's event could take place in person, which allowed for a direct exchange of views and suggestions from all participants. The main focus was on the current issues of EU Investment Policy, which were analysed and discussed in 4 panels by a total of 17 experts, ranging from the fields of academia to the judiciary as well as practitioners.

More information and further impressions can be found here. 

06.09.2022

European Summer Course 2022

The European Summer Course is an annual international seminar organized by the Europa-Institut of Saarland University together with the European Academy Otzenhausen and the ASKO Europa Foundation.

In August 2022, the seminar, titled #Visions4aNewEurope, focused on a broad range of political, legal, and environmental developments in the European Union. 

Every year, selected students have the chance to participate in the European Summer Course free of charge by receiving the Jean Monnet Scholarship from one of the Jean Monnet Chairs at Saarland University. 

Here are some impressions of this year's scholarship holder Valentine Wolfgang: 
 

"Each year, a few students and young professionals from all over the world come together for the European Summer Course to discuss the challenges and visions for the future of the European Union.

This year, thanks to a scholarship, I was amongst the 39 young people who got the opportunity to spend ten days together in the small town of Otzenhausen at the Europäische Akademie to meet and exchange.

We had guest lecturers coming in from different universities like Trier or Kyiv to present the difficulties and possible solutions. We made simulations to understand the decision-making process in the EU, by discussing new tobacco publicity guidelines or by handling the outbreak of an unknown disease. We did excursions to Strasbourg and Luxembourg to see the Union work in real life. And most of the time, we discussed current topics such as Brexit, climate change or the Russian war against the Ukraine but also long-term topics as Human Rights Protection and Data Protection. Due to the international group with people not only from all over Europe, but also from Saudi-Arabia, Australia or Nigeria, we had inside and outside perspectives that significantly enriched the discussions. As a student with a non-law background, I enjoyed getting an insight into the law-world, for example by doing a case study in human rights at the Europa-Institut.

Altogether, I came to Otzenhausen with low expectations and the openness to learn, and left with a lot of new knowledge, but most importantly with a lot of new friends and the experience of a lifetime.

I can wholeheartedly recommend the participation to everyone who is interested in the functioning and the challenges of the European Union and ready to gain new perspectives.

I would like to thank the Europa-Institut, Ms Fröhlich and especially the Jean-Monnet Chair for providing me with a scholarship and the opportunity to participate."

More information about the activities of the Jean-Monnet-Chair can be found here. 

21.07.2022

Conference "New Frontiers for EU Investment Policy: Internal and External Dimensions"

Register now!

Join us on 19 and 20 September 2022 to discuss the future of EU investment policy at the University of Vienna. The in-person conference “New Frontiers for EU Investment Policy: Internal and External Dimensions” is organised by Marc Bungenberg and August Reinisch.

Numerous distinguished speakers, including Christoph Schreuer, Michael Hahn, Nikos Lavranos, Anne Thies, Lukas Stifter, Federico Ortino, Christian Tietje, Christina Binder, Christoph Herrmann, Nicolaj Kuplewatzky, Patricia Nacimiento and Catherine Kessedijan will discuss new developments of EU investment policy.

The event is sponsored by the Jean Monnet Chair of Prof. Marc Bungenberg, the University of Vienna, the Arbeitskreis Europäische Integration, the Hermann und Dr. Charlotte Deutsch-Stiftung and the ASKO Europa-Stiftung.

Registration by 1 September via  https://forms.office.com/r/y60y3vtwLE

More information and the program can be found here.

13.06.2022

Fourth School Day at the Europa-Institut

On 13 June 2022, the fourth school day of Prof. Dr. Bungenberg's Jean Monnet Chair took place at the Europa-Institut in Saarbrücken. This time, students from TWG Dillingen visited us to discuss the Ukraine war and the role of the EU. After a short introduction to the topic, the students worked on important aspects of international law and European law in four interactive workshops and then presented them to the whole group in plenary. More detailed impressions of all school days can be found here. The creative posters of the pupils from Dillingen can also be admired there.

10.06.2022

PhD Colloquium

On 8 and 9 June 2022, a PhD colloquium was held at the Europa-Institut as part of the Jean Monnet Chair in International Dispute Settlement and the Rule of Law. Over two days, 12 doctoral candidates, whose dissertations are supervised by Prof. Marc Bungenberg, presented their PhD projects and the current status of their work. The presentations were characterised by a great variety of topics: current developments in investment and sports arbitration, supply chain due diligence, investment screening, permanent sovereignty over natural resources, and many other topics were discussed. In addition to interesting discussions, there was also time to exchange ideas with each other over two lunches.

The event was rounded off by a joint barbecue on the first evening. The next colloquium is planned for autumn 2022.

02.06.2022

INVESTinADR - Workshop

As part of the "INVESTinADR" project, a workshop on "Promoting Alternative Dispute Resolution in North Macedonia" took place at the Europa-Institut in Saarbrücken on 31 May and 1 June 2022. Four academics from our partner university in Skopje travelled to this workshop. Together with Prof. Dr. Goran Koevski, Prof. Dr. Darko Spasevski, Ljuben Kocev and Marjana Staninova, the chair team examined the international and national legal framework in Germany and North Macedonia with regard to alternative dispute resolution mechanisms. After an initial kick-off meeting at the end of last year, which was unfortunately only possible online, the team now had the opportunity to exchange ideas in person. The workshop was divided into the topics "national jurisdiction", "international legal framework", "commercial arbitration" and "investment arbitration". At a next meeting in autumn 2022, the team will focus on the topic area of "mediation" and discuss to what extent the legal framework in North Macedonia can be optimised to promote alternative dispute resolution mechanisms and improve the overall investment climate in the country.  More impressions of the workshop can be found here.

We thank our partners for this successful workshop and look forward to the next meeting!

19.05.2022

School Day in Lebach

On 24 May 2022, five staff members of the Europa-Institut and the Jean Monnet Chair of Prof. Dr Marc Bungenberg travelled to Lebach to offer their workshops on the topic of "The Ukraine War and the EU" at the Johannes Kepler Gymnasium for the third time. This time, too, the event was a complete success: after exciting discussions with the pupils on the topics of flight, sanctions, EU accession and international criminal law, the team happily drove back to Saarbrücken. More impressions of the school days can be found here. 

19.05.2022

School Day 2.0

On 19 May 2022, more than 50 students - this time from the Berufsbildungszentrum Sulzbach and Merzig - visited the Europa-Institut to discuss aspects of international and European law regarding the war in Ukraine with the team of the Jean Monnet Chair under the direction of Prof. Marc Bungenberg. In 4 workshops on the topics of "Flight", "Sanctions", "International Criminal Law" and "EU Accession", the students showed great interest in the discussions and shared the results of their workshops in the plenary afterwards. This time, Forum Magazine was also on site to report on the event "The Ukraine War and the EU". In the next few weeks, 3 more events on this topic will be held as part of the Jean Monnet Chair. 
 

We would like to thank all participants for this successful event!

12.05.2022

School Day

On 12 May 2022, more than 70 senior high school students from Saarland visited the Europa-Institut to discuss the topic "The Ukraine War and the EU". Together with the team of Prof. Marc Bungenberg's Jean Monnet Chair for International Dispute Resolution and the Rule of Law, the students dealt with the sub-topics "Flight from Ukraine", "Sanctions against Russia", "Consequences under International Criminal Law" and "Ukraine's Accession to the EU" in four workshops. The welcome address was given by Dr. Hanno Thewes, Deputy Head of the Department "Europe and Interregional Cooperation" of the State Chancellery of Saarland. In the coming weeks, 4 more workshops of the Jean Monnet Chair will take place on and off campus. A total of around 250 students from Saarland will take part in the school days this year.

The Jean Monnet team would like to thank the students for their active participation in the first meeting and looks forward to further interesting discussions in the coming weeks!

08.05.2022

Seminar at Frauenchiemsee

From 1 to 5 May 2022, Prof. Marc Bungenberg held a seminar with the title "Current Challenges of International and European Economic Law: International Dispute Settlement and the Rule of Law" on an island in the south of Germany called "Frauenchiemsee". The 14 participants held presentations on the reform of investor-State dispute settlement and other issues currently discussed in international economic law, such as the sanctions imposed on Russia, investment arbitration and climate change and the enhancement of corporate social responsibility. After the presentations, the students discussed the seminar topics very actively with Prof. Bungenberg and his team. In addition, the students had a ride in the world's oldest steam railway, a guided tour on Fraueninsel and a visit to the famous castle by the crazy Bavarian king on the Herreninsel. Overall, it was a very successful seminar that was accompanied by excellent weather!

More impressions can be found here. 

29.04.2022

Conference: The Protection Against Subsidies Distorting the Internal Market

On the 5 and 6 May, Prof. Bungenberg co-organizes a conference on "The Protection Against Foreign Subsidies Distorting the Internal Market" in the offices of Cleary Gottlieb in Brussels. The conference programme, information on the speakers and the link for registration can be found here. 

Academic Conference and Book Launch

The Europa-Institut at Saarland University and the University of Vienna cordially invite you to this (Virtual) Conference and Book Launch. 

The CETA-Investment Chapter is a blueprint for the future content of EU Investment Agreements; it expresses the change of paradigms taking place in substantive as well as procedural aspects. The conference will highlight these changes to investment policy, receive comments from the business community, and discuss the current and future role of Member States in EU Investment Law. Furthermore, the recently published CETA Investment Law Commentary will be presented.

Date and Time
Monday, 21 February 2022 - 4pm CET

Registration and Platform
Please register here and we will send you the invitation link for Zoom.

Background Material   
https://www.nomos-elibrary.de/10.5771/1435-439X-2021-3-437/a-paradigm-change-the-ceta-investment-chapter-jahrgang-24-2021-heft-3?page=1 

We are looking forward to welcome you to the virtual conference and book launch.

With best regards
Marc Bungenberg & August Reinisch

09.02.2022

This article-by-article Commentary of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) edited by Marc Bungenberg and August Reinisch is now available at Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, C.H. Beck and Hart Publishing. The CETA Commentary will be a key resource for practitioners and academics in the field of EU investment protection law.

The Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) has been called a game-changer. In the investment chapter, CETA has introduced a number of key innovations, inter alia

• the investment court system with an appellate tribunal
• guidelines on third party funding
• transparency and information sharing
• modern versions of standards of protection
• detailed provisions on reservations and exceptions.

Considering that the new dispute resolution provisions in this chapter have also passed the scrutiny of the Court of Justice of the European Union, it is expected that CETA's investment chapter will serve as a blueprint for future EU investment agreements.