Piqani and Jesse lecture at the Centre for Constitutionalism and Human Rights in Prague
Darinka Piqani and Moritz Jesse, both from the Europa Institute Leiden, were invited as speakers at the Centre for Constitutionalism and Human Rights, established at the Faculty of Law of Charles University, Prague.
In his lecture 'The Future of Citizenship and EU Free Movement' that took place on 16 November 2022, Dr Jesse reflected on loss and acquisition of EU citizenship, the use of EU citizenship in internal situations against one’s own Member State, and access to social welfare benefits in EU free movement scenarios. Based on case law of the Court of Justice of the EU, Dr Jesse concluded that developments will turn out positive for some citizens of the Union while lead to a decrease in rights for others.
In her lecture 'National Identity in the EU Legal Order' on 25 November 2022, Dr Piqani revisited this legal concept of EU and national constitutional law. The lecture started with a historical overview of the emergence of the concept to understand the rationale behind it. Then several issues with the concept were discussed such as its definition and the risk of articulating exclusive rather than inclusive constitutional values; the function of the concept as a trigger for dialogue rather than an outright derogation clause and of course, the potential of abuse of the concept in illiberal democracies. The event was attended by students, researchers, and academic staff of the Law Faculty.