Reconciling Europe with its Citizens through Democracy and the Rule of Law
The Bingham Centre within BIICL was one of 18 partner organisations participating in a Horizon 2020 EU-funded project, 'Reconciling Europe with its Citizens through Democracy and the Rule of Law' (RECONNECT). This four-year multidisciplinary project focused on strengthening the EU's legitimacy throughout Europe, building a new narrative for Europe and helping the EU become more attuned to the expectations of its citizens.
Along with the University of Leuven, the Bingham Centre co-led the communication, dissemination, and exploitation strategy. As part of this, the Bingham Centre co-edited the RECONNECT blog which published more than 140 posts over the lifetime of the project, including a number from the Bingham Centre team, which can be found below.
The Bingham Centre team also contributed to the RECONNECT MOOC and, in collaboration with the University of Leuven, created a series of educational materials for young people living in the EU.
At the substantive level, Bingham Centre researchers contributed to working papers which are part of the project deliverables and which can be found below.
The project received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research & Innovation programme under Grant Agreement no. 770142.
Papers
Working papers:
- Project deliverable 7.1: 'Unity and Diversity in National Understandings of the Rule of Law in the EU' (April 2020)
- Project deliverable 7.2 'Meaning and Scope of the EU Rule of Law' (April 2020)
- Project deliverable 7.3: 'The crystallisation of a core EU meaning of the rule of law and its (limited) normative influence beyond the EU' (April 2021)
- Project deliverable 8.2: 'The strategies and mechanisms used by national authorities to systematically undermine the Rule of Law and possible EU responses' (December 2020)
- Project deliverable 13.2: 'Authority, legitimacy and the Rule of Law in EU migration policy' (April 2021)
Other papers:
- J Beqiraj & L Moxham, 'Reconciling the Theory and the Practice of the Rule of Law in the European Union: Measuring the Rule of Law', Hague Journal on the Rule of Law 14, 139-164 (2022)
- J Grogan & J Beqiraj, 'The Rule of Law as the Perimeter of Legitimacy for COVID-19 Responses' in J Grogan and A Donald (eds), 'Routledge Handbook of Law and the COVID-19 Pandemic' (Routledge 2022)
- J Beqiraj & F Ippolito, 'COVID-19 and International Organizations: Challenges and Opportunities from the Perspective of Good Governance and the Rule of Law', Introduction to the Forum, International Organizations Law Review 18(3), 293-306 (2021)
- O Garner, 'Written evidence submitted to the House of Commons Committee on the Future Relationship with the EU: The EU-UK Joint Committee' (2020)
Blogs
The Bingham Centre team contributed 16 blogs over the lifetime of the project:
- Blog: 'What are the implications for Europe of the UK Government's proposals to replace the Human Rights Act 1998?' by Katie Lines, April 29, 2022
- Blog: 'Developments in the UK's uneasy relationship with the European Convention on Human Rights' by Katie Lines, March 1, 2022
- Blog: 'Modifying Retained EU law in the UK: Increasing Rule of Law Concerns' by Oliver Garner, October 20, 2021
- Blog: 'Authority, Legitimacy and the Rule of Law in EU migration policy' by Dr. Julinda Beqiraj, Dr. Katri Gadd, and Dr. Barbara Grabowska-Moroz, August 10, 2021
- Blog: 'Ensuring greater protection for fundamental rights in developing EU counter-terrorism policies' by Tufyal Choudhury, May 20, 2021
- Blog: 'Power and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Beyond the Separation of Powers?' by Jan van Zyl Smit, March 24, 2021
- Blog: 'The 'Regulation on a general regime of conditionality for the protection of the Union budget' and its contested implementation' by Julinda Beqiraj, January 19, 2021
- Blog: 'True (Bad) Faith 2020? Part One: The Commission Infringement Action against the United Kingdom for breach of the Withdrawal Agreement' by Oliver Garner, November 20, 2020. (This blog post was originally posted on the European Law Blog)
- Blog: 'True (Bad) Faith 2020? Part Two: Excavating the Legal Rationale for the 'Emergency Clauses' in the UK Internal Market Bill' by Oliver Garner, November 24, 2020. (This blog post was originally posted on the European Law Blog)
- Blog: 'Rule of Law Safeguards in Times of Health Crises: A Decalogue' by Julinda Beqiraj and Jean-Pierre Gauci, July 17, 2020
- Blog: 'Will the UK Uphold its Commitment to Human Rights?' by Lucy Moxham and Oliver Garner, July 6, 2020 (This piece was cross-posted with the kind permission of the LSE Brexit Blog)
- Blog: 'Italy's COVID-19 Legislative Response: Adjusting Along the Way' by Julinda Beqiraj, April 8, 2020 (This blog post was originally published in the Verfassungsblog)
- Blog: 'The EU-UK Future Relationship and the Rule of Law' by Oliver Garner and Jack Simson Caird, March 16, 2020 (This comment piece was originally published on the Bingham Centre website)
- Blog: 'Catching up with the Debate: Artificial Intelligence & the Rule of Law' by Ellis Paterson and Gemma McNeil-Walsh, October 14, 2019
- Blog: 'The Rule of Law Should be Taught in Schools' by Michael Abiodun Olatokun, June 17, 2019
- Blog: 'The Polish government's assault on judicial independence is part of a worldwide trend' by Murray Hunt, July 5, 2018 (an op-ed was published in the Washington Post on 2 July)
Educational materials
The Bingham Centre, in collaboration with the University of Leuven, created a series of educational materials for young people living in the EU which are available on the RECONNECT 'Youth Resource Centre'.
The educational materials have also been collated into two booklets which are available here for younger children and here for older students.
The primary aim of the educational materials is to enable young people and educators to engage in class discussions about the EU and the rights of EU citizens, and about the meaning and importance of core concepts such as the rule of law, democracy and human rights. The info sheets also cover topics such as migration, climate change and children's rights.
The educational materials are the result of collaborative work by Lucy Moxham, Julinda Beqiraj and Daniela Nadj at the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law. We are grateful to our colleague Daniela Nadj for providing valuable research support and assistance with earlier drafts. We also thank our RECONNECT colleagues, in particular Kari Otteburn, at the University of Leuven, for their helpful feedback on earlier drafts of the educational materials. Graphic design by Dan Gould Design.
Events
- June 29, 2022: 'Law and the COVID-19 Pandemic'
- The 'Power and the COVID-19 Pandemic' Symposium convened by Dr Joelle Grogan at Middlesex University London was hosted by the Verfassungsblog, and supported by Democracy Reporting International and the Horizon-2020 RECONNECT project. From February to May 2021, the Symposium reported on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on law and legal systems in over 60 countries. Bingham Centre researchers contributed to the accompanying webinar series. Julinda Beqiraj presented at the webinar on 'The Rule of Law in the Pandemic' and Lucy Moxham chaired the webinar on 'Human Rights and the Covid-19 Pandemic'.
- February 24, 2021: 'Webinar: Power and the COVID-19 Pandemic'
- October 28, 2020: 'The Rule of Law in the Technological Age '
- January 30, 2020: Public event 'Is the rule of law too vague a notion to be monitored and enforced by the EU against backsliding Member States?', Bingham Centre, Middlesex University London, RECONNECT
- June 6, 2018, Brussels: Roundtable 'Enhancing the Rule of Law in the EU', Bingham Centre, CER, Middlesex University London
Project Team
Core project team: Julinda Beqiraj, Lucy Moxham, Oliver Garner, Katie Lines, Daniela Nadj and Anthony Wenton.