Access to justice in environmental matters before national courts and the role of the CJEU’s case law

The Aarhus Convention is binding for the Member States of the European Union – both because they are signatories to the Convention under international law, and as a matter of EU law because of their membership to the EU. This lecture will discuss how the third pillar of the Aarhus Convention, access to justice, has been transposed by the European Union as far as access to national courts is concerned. It will highlight the main implementation roadblocks and the relevant case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union.

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Speaker: Mariolina Eliantonio

She is a Professor of European and Comparative Administrative Law and Procedure at Maastricht University. Her research is focused on the enforcement of European Law before national and EU courts. She does research specifically on the theme of access to court before national and European courts (with a special focus on environmental matters), on the Europeanisation process of national procedural administrative law and on the judicial review of the new modes of governance, such as soft law and technical standardisation.

Environmental Law Lecture Series

This lecture is part of the Environmental Law Lecture Series: Strengthening EU Environmental Law, Legal Perspectives on Greening Europe series. This series provides a set of important insights from environmental law scholars on how EU environmental law helps to achieve the aim of a high level of environmental protection in the European Union and across the world.

With the European Green Deal from 11 December 2019 the European Commission tabled an ambitious legislative program, based on fundamental aims such as zero pollution, do no harm, and climate neutrality. Many legal developments took place and are still on-going, both at the European and national regulatory levels as in the courtroom, including the national courts. While efforts to protect the environment are direly needed, including effective implementation and enforcement, the regulatory acquis, and the flow of case law, has become utterly complex which poses challenges for acquiring a good understanding and application.

This freely accessible online (and hybrid) lecture series provides students and scholars with core insights in the state of affairs and further improvement of EU environmental law. The lecture series will run in 2023 and 2024. All lectures will be recorded and will be made accessible through our YouTube channel.

This GreenDeal-Net lecture series is hosted by MCEL, METRO and organised in cooperation with GLaw-Net and GreenDeal-NET. Maastricht University students will be eligible for certificates of attendance (see more information under the registration link).