CONFERENCE: 4th Annual Conference: Law and Policy in European Integration (1960s-1990s) - Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory, Frankfurt am Main, 1-2 June 2021

(Source: Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory)

1 - 2 June 2021 - Organization by Stefan Vogenauer and Jan-Henrik Meyer

From its beginnings, European integration required legal solutions to very concrete policy issues. This led to the creation of a large body of policy-relevant law – ranging from agriculture and competition to the environment and social policy. The conference thus focuses on the relationship between law and policy in the process of European integration from the 1960s to the 1990s.

The relationship between law and policy goes both ways. On the one hand, we will explore how European law shaped European policy-making. To what extent did legal actors – lawyers within the institutions and courts – enable or obstruct the development of various policies and the legal instruments chosen? What legal norms, ideas and doctrines did they employ in doing so? On the other hand, we will investigate how European policy shaped European law. How is this influence reflected in legislation and judicial decisions?  

The objective of the conference is to enhance our understanding of what ‘integration through law’ means with a view to European policies. By bringing together case studies from a range of policy areas, we will be able to (1) flag up the varying roles of different actors involved, (2) compare the relations between policy and law across policy areas old and new, and (3) assess change over time, including potential path dependencies. We will thus acquire a better understanding of why and how European policy, which increasingly influences citizens’ lives, has come to address problems the way it does.

The conference will be held at the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Due to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the conference will take place as a video conference. Participation will be free of charge and those interested should please send an informal message to jmeyer@rg.mpg.de. Further information as to the platform will follow in due course.

A draft version of the conference program is available here.