Objectives

This Chair addresses these questions and pursues four general objectives:

• Strengthening and promoting teaching in relation to the rule of law from an integrated EU law and (national) public law perspective. Radboud University can boast a unique and strong reputation of teaching in Dutch law in addition to a dedicated bachelor European Law School and several master programmes dealing with international and European law. It consistently tops charts listing all Dutch law degrees as offering the best general law degree in the Netherlands. The aforementioned multidisciplinary and integrated approach is, nonetheless, missing in the current curriculum. The Chair actively tries to reach higher education students who do not automatically come into contact with EU studies. The latter is also the innovative focus of this Chair in comparison with former and current Chairs on the rule of law.
• Strengthening and promoting research in relation to the rule of law from an integrated EU law and (national) public law perspective. Radboud holds a leading position in legal doctrinal research in Dutch law. The integrated top-down/bottom-up perspective used in teaching will also be extrapolated to the research of the Chair and his team. By gaining and exchanging insights in EU law in relation to the rule of law, researchers can better understand how their own (rule of law) system relates to other legal systems and how it is influenced by European developments. The Chair’s team consists of several scholars from the Radboud public law institute SteR and especially the research group on ‘Foundational principles of public law and fundamental rights’ with a strong research tradition in relation to the rule of law as the foundation of public law as well as the group on ‘Interaction between international and national law’.
• Fostering a dialogue between scholars, policy-makers, civil society actors, judges and lawyers about the rule of law. Discussions and events with a diverse audience centered around the identified questions lead to a more solid understanding of the challenges and better informed solutions to the problems sketched. This Chair therefore aims to make teaching and research outputs available to a wide group of societal stakeholders and decision-makers. This dialogue is not only an end in itself but also a way to generate new knowledge that is practically relevant and, hence, supports the functioning of the European and national legal order. In doing so, it strengthens the role of EU law and the EU in a globalised world. The Chair can make use of existing contacts and networks of the Radboud public law institute SteR especially with Dutch legal practice, including the judiciary, lawyers and policy-makers. This dialogue with legal practice goes hand in hand with academic activities and output discussed under the second objective.
• Educating the wider public about the relevance of rule of law in the Netherlands and Europe and the EU’s contribution to it. EURoLNAT will pursue active outreach and educational work that will spread knowledge about EU (rule of) law to the wider society beyond academia and specialised audiences. Aside from the Chair and its team, EURoLNAT will rely on student involvement as well, primarily for the teaching activities at primary and secondary schools. The Chair can benefit from the department Radboud Reflects responsible for public outreach activities. In doing so, the Chair will bring the EU, EU law and the rule of law closer to the Dutch public and youth.