The School of Law of the University of Central Lancashire, Cyprus and the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence for the Rule of Law and European Values (CRoLEV), co-funded by the European Union and running at UCLan Cyprus for the period 2022-2025, held their second annual CRoLEV Summer School on the 15^th and 16^th of July 2024. The Summer School took place in hybrid format, with some participating in person on the UCLan Cyprus campus, and others joining online via MS Teams. The CRoLEV Summer School, this year focusing on ‘Rule of Law and Democratic Values in Times of Crisis’, promoted excellence in teaching and research and fostered dialogue among the participants to the Summer School.

The CRoLEV Summer School brought together advanced students, legal researchers, and legal professionals who enjoyed a series of diverse sessions on many interesting topics. Following a Welcome Address by Professor Stéphanie Laulhé Shaelou, Professor of European Law and Reform and Head of School of Law, UCLan Cyprus, and CRoLEV Director, the first workshop was delivered by Dr Andreas Marcou, Lecturer in Legal Theory, School of Law, UCLan Cyprus and CRoLEV Project Manager. Dr Marcou discussed states of exception, focusing on their effect on the rule of law and democracy. Drawing from various examples, including from the Covid-19 pandemic, the workshop proposed ways in which the risks posed by states of exception may be mediated. The second workshop delivered by CRoLEV post-doc, Dr Alex M. Uibariu, addressed ‘Attacks on the Civil Society: Repercussions for the Rule of Law and Democracy’. During her workshop, Dr Uibariu discussed the type of threats that civil society has faced, particularly in times of emergency, and focused on the impact of those attacks on democracy overall.

The last workshop for the day, taking place after the lunch break, was delivered by Prof. Sivanandan Sivakumar, Senior Professor at the Indian Law Institute, New Delhi and President of the Commonwealth Legal Education Association (CLEA). Prof. Sivakumar, assisted by his research team, delivered a presentation on ‘Media in a Democracy and the Rule of Law’, emphasising the fundamental role free and diverse media play in a functioning democracy. In addition, the workshop raised a variety of challenges facing media in democratic states, including diversity of media ownership, transparency in media ownership, and the challenges posed by AI and other technological advancements.

The first day of the Summer School was concluded by the presentation of the CRoLEV Dashboard. The interactive dashboard, available here, is the platform on which the data collected during the CRoLEV project is presented. During the Summer School, Prof. Laulhé Shaelou and Dr Uibariu delivered the first presentation of some initial data collected through the CRoLEV Surveys (available here). The Dashboard will be updated throughout the duration of the project.

The second day of the Summer School began with a presentation by Prof. Vasil Gluchman from the University of Presov, Slovakia, who discussed ‘Democracy and (il)liberalism in Hungary and Slovakia: Past and present’. Drawing from the Hungarian experience with illiberalism, Prof. Gluchman drew analogies to the Slovakian case. In particular, he emphasised how the actions by governments in both Hungary and Slovakia represent salient threats to the rule of law, democracy, human rights, and other values of the EU.

The public lecture was delivered by Prof. Laulhé Shaelou and was entitled ‘Upholding the Rule of Law in turbulent times: a European judiciary perspective’. In discussing the legal framework of the EU and the Council of Europe, the lecture drew attention to the various dangers and threats to the rule of law associated with judicial independence and impartiality across European judicial systems. The conclusions of the lecture brought to the forefront the precarity of the rule of law across Europe today, as addressed by the Court of Justice of the European Union and by the European Court of Human Rights.

Two workshops followed in the afternoon. The first one was delivered by Dr Katerina Kalaitzaki, Lecturer in EU Public Law, School of Law, UCLan Cyprus and focused on ‘Post-crises citizenship: financial crisis, populism, and Covid-19’. The workshop discussed the concept of citizenship, raising concerns about the way in which the ‘membership’ component of citizenship has become in recent years the subject of populist rhetoric. The final workshop of the Summer School was delivered by Dr Klearchos Kyriakides, Senior Visiting Fellow, School of Law, UCLan Cyprus who discussed ‘The rule of law, the Brexit saga and Boris Johnson’s first three months as Prime Minister’. This final presentation offered a robust analysis of the UK Constitution and identified the various ways in which the behaviour of the Prime Minister Boris Johnson displayed contempt for the rule of law. The presentations throughout the two days sparked lively debates about the state of democracy and the rule of law in our societies.

Many thanks go to the CRoLEV Team for their hard work in organising the the Summer School. We would also like to thank our guest contributors and all participants for their commitment and their valuable participation throughout the various sessions and activities of those events. All material from the Summer School will be available here.