Almost all EU Member States have introduced states of emergency or enacted similar measures to contain the spread of covid-19. These legal regimes have profoundly affected the rule of law, altering the political and legal landscape. As the EU Member States prepare to lift the lockdowns and begin opening their borders and economies, which emergency measures will remain in place? Businesses are re-opening, but freedom of assembly remains restricted and courts function at minimum capacity. At the same time, while the attention is focused on the fight against the virus, measures might intentionally or accidentally escape scrutiny and remain in force despite no longer being ;

Our webinar will explore these challenges, lingering consequences and dangerous developments, focusing on the situation in Finland, Hungary, Italy and Poland, as well as on cross-cutting issues common to all EU Member States.

This session will be addressing some of the following questions:
• You may dine in a restaurant, but you cannot protest in the street – is restricting the freedom of assembly while restarting the economy warranted?
• Creeping towards permanence – are some EU Member States in danger of a permanent state of emergency as measures are set to persist in the long-term?
• What happens when you are not looking – what controversial institutional and legal reforms are being introduced during the states of emergency?
• Restarting the courts, dealing with the backlog – what are the core challenges to restoring the judiciaries in the EU to normal functioning and ensuring judicial oversight over emergency measures?

Panelists

• Professor Cristina Fasone (Assistant Professor in Comparative Public Law at Luiss Guido Carlo, Rome)
• Jakub Jaraczewski (Legal Officer, Democracy Reporting International)
• Professor Kim Lane Scheppele (Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Sociology and International Affairs in the Woodrow Wilson School and in the University Center for Human Values, Princeton University)
• Professor Martin Scheinin (Professor of International Law and Human Rights, European University Institute, Florence; former UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism)

Chair:
Hans Felber-Charbonneau (Communications Coordinator, Democracy Reporting International)

The event is joint organised by RECONNECT, a Horizon 2020 project on the rule of law and democracy in Europe, and re:constitution (Democracy Reporting International)