EULEN Newsroom
Second annual conference of the EULEN network
Conference of the Jean Monet Network on EU Law Enforcement (EULEN)
‘The many faces and facets of the enforcement of European Union law: adapting in the ever-evolving landscape and empowering change for successful policies’
11-12 December 2025
Utrecht University
CALL FOR PAPERS
The Utrecht Centre for Regulation and Enforcement in Europe (RENFORCE) & Utrecht University’s Strategic theme Institutions for Open Societies (IOS), namely the ‘Markets and Corporations’ platform, invite contributions to the conference ‘The many faces and facets of the enforcement of European Union law: adapting in the ever-evolving landscape and empowering change for successful policies’. The conference follows the insights gained from a project that was funded by the European Commission as part of the Jean Monnet Network on EU Law Enforcement (EULEN) in 2019-2023 and the first annual conference held at King’s College London in September 2024 (papers).
Theme of the Conference
Enforcement of EU law has become a joint task. EU and national institutions, including public administrations, courts, the Commission, central banks and Ombudsman offices, EU and national agencies and private actors are all key institutional actors. Furthermore, institutions employ different types of experts and professions, such as inspectors, supervisors, evaluators, compliance officers, enforcers, judges, prosecutors, mediation and civil society professionals, each of whom has a different take on enforcement, also depending on the issues and challenges they face on a daily basis. These institutions and professionals operate in a complex and dynamic legal, political, economic and societal landscape. This reality prompts addressing ‘classic’ questions like competence divisions, optimal enforcement styles and approaches, as well as ‘novel’ challenges ranging from the ‘rise of the machines’ to persistent societal inequality, evolving legal precedent, information asymmetries, etc. These institutional and personal perspectives, which are further prone to challenges interconnected with all sorts of diversities, shape the enforcement of EU law. This complexity and diversity inevitably leads to a series of questions on the multifaceted enforcement of EU law.
Which actors, institutional and/or individual, private, have been (more) successful in enforcement? What elements influence the success of specific institutions and groups? What have we learned from the vast experience of EU agencies, the first two of which mark their 50th anniversary in 2025? How to enhance enforcement via empowering the enforcers and supporting their operation via adaptation to the complex environments within which they work?
This conference invites us to think and discuss the many faces and facets of the enforcement of EU law with the aim to enhance enforcement and effective laws and policies, also thanks to interinstitutional exchange of ideas and bringing in different perspectives and actors together. Different perspectives can include presenting on different professions in enforcement, different institutional angles, strategies and means of assisting and supporting governmental enforcement actors in the ongoing transition to the future and in the ever-evolving landscape surrounding their work.
Research contributions are invited from various legal angles – i.e. public and private law – as well as other relevant disciplines and interdisciplinary fields , including but not limited to socio-legal research, behavioural studies, law & economics, public administration, criminology, etc. Studies with a different scope and methodology, including literature-based, legal-doctrinal, empirical and data-driven , are welcome.
We welcome abstract submissions from (teams of) academics (including PhD researchers) and practitioners (from private practice and public bodies) conducting research in the enforcement of European Union law in all its dimensions and from various (multi-and inter-disciplinary) angles.
Format of the Conference
The conference will be organised based on the following panels:
- EU institutions as enforcers of EU law : legal, political, strategic and/or individual perspectives
- EU and national agencies as enforcers of EU law: the 50th anniversary since the creation of the first EU agencies and the ‘street level’ enforcer model
- Enforcement by private actors: successes and challenges
- Research on aspects relevant to the topic of enforcers from an interdisciplinary perspective (compliance studies, criminology, sociology, cybersecurity, political science, law & economics, behavioural studies, etc.)
The conference will be held in person only at the Utrecht Law School (Achter Sint Pieter 200, Alex Brenninkmeijer Zaal). The conference will be structured around four panels corresponding to the four areas of interest. Prior to each panel a keynote speech by a prominent enforcer in a respective field is planned. Each of those panel sessions will consist of short presentations of papers selected on the basis of this Call for Papers, with invited stakeholders and scholars acting as discussants. We may also organise an additional panel session that reviews recent publications in the field of enforcement.
For more information and the instructions for submission, please consult the below attachment.
Looking forward to meeting you in Utrecht in December!
