Fellows’ Exchange Meeting
Wed 03 Jun 2020 – Thu 04 Jun 2020

Third Fellow Exchange Meeting

The remote work edition

On the 3rd and 4th of June 2020 the third and last meeting of the first re:constitution fellow cohort took place. Due to the current travel restrictions it was not possible for the fellows to meet in Brussels as we initially planned. Instead, the meeting took place virtually and our fellows joined the different sessions from their locations all over Europe.

The meeting started with a public Webinar organised by Connecting Europe, a project of the Brussels-based European Policy Centre. Joelle Grogan (Reconnect/Middlesex University), Marta Pardavi (Hungarian Helsinki Committee), Sergey Lagodinsky (Member of European Parliament) and re:constitution fellow Csaba Györy discussed the recent decision of the German Federal Constitutional Court on the ECB's bond purchasing and its impact on the EU's rule of law agenda.

In various interactive sessions the fellows then talked about the effects of the Corona pandemic on their work situation and on their topics of research. They discussed the role of international organisations and courts to control the restrictions of fundamental rights, the chances and challenges of digitalisation in parliaments, transparency and the right to demonstrate in times of crisis. The emergency measures and their consequences for fundamental rights were also discussed in a debate with the academic director of re:constitution Prof. Christoph Möllers.

During a background talk with Judith Sargentini the fellows also had the opportunity to talk about a topic that was not related to Corona. She gave insights into the investigations for the report she wrote as a Member of the European Parliament concerning the Article 7 procedure against Hungary.

Before saying goodbye, the fellows were informed about opportunities to stay connected to re:constitution and Stiftung Mercator as alumni of the programme. We all have big hopes that this was not the last meeting and that a personal get-together will be possible in the near future.

This two-day conference was held in cooperation with Connecting Europe, a joint initiative by the European Policy Centre and Stiftung Mercator.

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