Koen Lenaerts awarded the 2017 ALLEA Madame de Staël Prize
Professor Koen Lenaerts, President of the Court of Justice of the European Union, honoured with ALLEA Prize for his outstanding scholarly contribution on European law
Koen Lenaerts, 2017 ALLEA Madame de Staël Prize Laurate
Professor Koen Lenaerts will be awarded the 2017 All European Academies Madame de Staël Prize for Cultural Values to honour his extensive scholarly work on European law and his reflections on European jurisdiction. Professor Lenaerts, President of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), will be the fourth scholar to be awarded the ALLEA Prize, at the initiative of ALLEA, the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities, with the friendly co-sponsorship of Compagnia di San Paolo.
The 20,000 EUR Prize will be awarded on the occasion of the ALLEA General Assembly in the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest on 4 September 2017. As a Professor of European Union law, his scholarly work represents a thorough and impeccable analysis for understanding the EU’s judicial system and the democratic values for which it stands.
The Prize serves to remind us that despite variations in definition and geographical boundaries over the centuries, there has always been a deep-rooted understanding of European culture as rooted in an inherent openness supported by a dynamic and vigorous intellectualism.
Professor Günter Stock, ALLEA President and chairman of the Prize jury said: “This Prize feels especially pertinent this year – in a time when the cultural diversity of Europe seems to be increasingly threatened by scepticism, extremism and instability. Law is at the origin of the European idea and the basis for free societies, and this year the Prize Jury decided to honour a scholar with a truly European track record in law. President Lenaerts is an outstanding scholar and at the same time an exceptional promoter of European jurisdiction.”
“Law is at the origin of the European idea and the basis for free societies, and this year the Prize Jury decided to honour a scholar with a truly European track record in law. President Lenaerts is an outstanding scholar and at the same time an exceptional promoter of European jurisdiction.”
Koen Lenaerts, born in 1954 in Mortsel (Belgium), is professor of European Law at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and, since 2015, President of the Court of Justice of the European Union. His work represents not only an invaluable contribution to the understanding of the judicial system of the European Union, but also a wealth of analysis on the case law of the Court of Justice. His publications include: “Constitutionalism and the many faces of federalism” (1990), “Interlocking legal orders in the European Union and comparative law” (2003), “In the union we trust: Trust-enhancing principles of community law” (2004), “The rule of law and the coherence of the judicial system of the European Union” (2007), “Exploring the Limits of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights” (2012), “How the ECJ Thinks: A Study on Judicial Legitimacy” (2013), “The Principle of Democracy in the Case Law of the European Court of Justice” (2013), “La vie après l’avis: Exploring the principle of mutual (yet not blind) trust” (2017), among others.
About the ALLEA Madame de Staël Prize
ALLEA established the All European Academies Madame de Staël Prize for Cultural Values to pay tribute to the boundless intellectual and cultural diversity and richness of Europe, and to highlight how outstanding scholarly work, particularly in the fields of the humanities and social sciences, contributes to the understanding of Europe as a cultural and intellectual entity. The Prize is awarded to eminent scholars whose work represents a significant contribution in these objectives. The first laureate, Professor Luisa Passerini, received the Prize from former European Commission President José Manuel Barroso in 2014 to honour her work on European cultural identity. In 2015, Professor Dame Helen Wallace was awarded the Prize by EU Commissioner Carlos Moedas for her outstanding work on political studies and policy in Europe. Last year, Professor Rémi Brague was the third scholar to be honoured for his comprehensive understanding of the relationship between Judaism, Christianity and Islam today.
Click here for more information about the All European Academies Madame de Staël Prize for Cultural Values.
