Europeanisation of constitutional law: German-Polish perspective at the Viadrina

How far does the influence of European law on national constitutional law extend - and where are its limits? The conference "Europeanisation of Constitutional Law - a German-Polish Perspective" on Tuesday, 23 June 2026, at the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) will address this key question. The conference will take place in the Logensaal of the Viadrina, in the Logenhaus, Logenstraße 11. The keynote speech will be given by Prof. Dr Gesine Schwan.

Europeanisation is shaping large parts of the legal systems in the EU member states. For ordinary law, its mode of operation and enforcement mechanisms have been largely clarified in case law and legal scholarship. There is less agreement on the extent of harmonisation of national constitutional law under EU law. The conference will address this question from a German-Polish perspective. The focus will be on central areas of sovereignty in the EU states, for example in the judicial, defence, budgetary, financial and media constitutions.

The event is open to the public and free of charge. The event languages are German and Polish; simultaneous translation will be provided.

All interested parties are cordially invited to take part in the conference.

Registration is required by Monday, 1 June 2026. evr@europa-uni.de.

Programme

The conference will open on 23 June at 10:00 a.m. in the Viadrina's Logensaal with an introduction by Dr Mathias Honer. At 10.15 a.m., Prof. Dr Gesine Schwan, President of the Berlin Governance Platform, will give the keynote speech entitled "European Union of Citizens or of Member States?"

Afterwards, "Reasons and Limits of the Europeanisation of Constitutional Law" will be the focus of a lecture and discussion panel with Prof. Dr Peter M. Huber, Prof. Dr Christian Calliess and Prof. Dr hab. Robert Grzeszczak. After the lunch break, the focus will turn to the Europeanisation of the judicial constitution with contributions from Prof. Dr. Mattias Wendel and Prof. Dr. hab. Wojciech Piątek; the moderator will be Dr Robert Böttner.

In the afternoon, Viadrina legal scholar Prof. Dr Jelena von Achenbach, Dr hab. Natalia Kohtamäki, Prof. Dr Ruth Weber and Dr hab. Tadeusz Kowalski, under the key question "Defence, finances, budget, media ... How far does the Europeanisation of constitutional law go?". The panel discussion will be moderated by Dr Sophia Paulini. 

For an outlook, Prof. Dr Markus Kotzur will speak on the question of whether the Europeanisation of constitutional law in the EU states is contributing to the development of a common European constitutional law.

The exact times of the programme items can be found on the conference website.