Augsburg/ThM/KPP – the financial and refugee crisis,
Grexit and Brexit, TTIP and CETA – all of these are headlines and incentive terms, which raise
the profound: what about the rule of law and enforcement within the scope of the European law
question – beyond the day-to-day-politics? The answer to this question will be given by legal
scholars from Germany, Italy, France, and China in the upcoming three years. Their research efforts
within the context of the Jean-Monnet Centre of Excellence “European Integration – Rule
of Law and Enforcement” (INspiRE), which is coordinated out of the University of Augsburg,
will be funded with 100.000 euros.
One out of the three existing centres of excellence, which are since
this year newly co-funded by the European Union, is the Jean-Monnet Centre of Excellence
“European Integration – Rule of Law and Enforcement” (INspiRE). It will be funded
with 100.000 euros in the following three years. Conceptualised by a group of international
researchers under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Thomas M.J. Möllers, it is located at the
University of Augsburg, at which Möllers holds the Chair for Civil Law, Commercial Law,
European Law, International Private Law and Comparative Law and Jean-Monnet-Chair ad personam.
INspiRE conducts research – with a European-international mindset – on questions of the
rule of law and law enforcement within European law. “The financial crisis e.g. or the Greek
debt crisis, as well as the refugee crisis are creating doubt across Europe, if European law is
still being applied or even receiving attention”, is how Möllers explained the current
demand for research of the centre of excellence under his guidance.
On the basis of the research focus in Augsburg
The renowned INspiRE-researchers are from universities in Germany,
France, Italy, and China. The cooperation is implemented by collective publications, conferences,
and bigger panels, where current topics such as TTIP or Brexit can be discussed with the general
public in mind. The collaboration with the Bavarian Ministry of Justice and the bar association of
Munich serves the purpose of establishing a connection with the politics and the praxis. Important
foundations for the INspiRE-researchers, on which they can build their studies, are the expertise of
the Center for European Legal Studies (CELOS) and the Research Centre of Innovation and Legal
Studies between China and Europe (RICE) – both established at the University of Augsburg
– along with the database on German and European Commercial Law (CAPLAW, http://www.caplaw.eu), which is also maintained by the legal faculty
of the University of Augsburg.
High academic obstacles
The Jean-Monnet-Centre of Excellence combines the knowledge and
competence of renowned experts working in a research field, which is highly relevant if viewed from
the perspective of the EU. They are meant to establish a bond between the different disciplines of
EU-studies and also encourage and develop transnational research efforts. The academic obstacles for
supporting these excellence centres are extremely high: This year in Germany only two grant
applications were successful – one, with which an already existing centre can be continued and
another application with which the project in Augsburg can now be started.
Renowned Experts in European Law from Germany, Italy,
France, and China
Möllers, the coordinator of the INspiRE project, can already
refer to his numerous publications concerning law enforcement. His Augsburg faculty-colleagues Prof.
Dr. Ferdinand Wollenschläger and Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Wurmnest, who also supported the grant
application, are specialists in European commercial law and EU state aid law. Prof. Dr. Beate Gsell
from the Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich is specialised in European consumer rights and
Prof. Dr. Enrico Camilleri (University of Palermo) is both an expert in European Consumer Rights and
Competition Law. Prof. Dr. Frédérique Ferrand from Lyon, on the other hand, is
professionalised in European and International Civil Procedure Law. The seventh member of the
INspiRE-project is Prof. Dr. Zhang Tong, who is also chairholder of a Jean-Monnet-Chair for European
Law at the China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL) in Beijing.
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