Martijn Snoep delivers lecture at the Opening Ceremony of the LL.M. European Law
On Wednesday 28 September 2022, the Opening Ceremony of the European Law LL.M. took place on campus at Leiden Law School. Following Dr Ben Van Rompuy and Professor Jorrit Rijpma’s warm words of welcome for the incoming students, Dr Vasiliki Kosta presented two student prizes from the preceding academic year.
First, Aislinn Hughes’ paper ‘Big Brother’s not Watching You Anymore: The Dutch Role in the European Union after Brexit’ won an award for the Best Paper in the elective bachelor's course ‘Europa in de Praktijk’. Second, Alexandra Masek won the Europa Institute Thesis Award for her LL.M. thesis entitled ‘Revisiting the victim status in climate change-related cases’.
This year, the Opening Lecture was delivered by Martijn Snoep, Chairman of the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets. He spoke via teleconference as he was unable to attend due to unforeseen circumstances. Snoep reflected on how the completion of the internal market and other European policy initiatives of that time lifted Europe out of economic stagnation to unprecedented levels of growth. Turning to the present day, Snoep identified an urgent need to transform towards a net-zero economy. He elaborated on how the EU and national competition authorities must adapt their regulatory role to help attain this goal. He encouraged the students to also play their role in finding new legal and policy solutions for pressing issues as climate change. The lecture was followed by a Q&A session, with Snoep sharing further his professional experience. The ceremony closed with a drinks reception.