Greening Europe
MCEL Master Thesis Project 2020-2021
Greening Europe was the 2020-2021 MCEL master thesis project which brought together students and staff members of MCEL who are interested in the study of EU environmental law. Where our society faces ever increasing complex issues in relation to the protection of the environment, the need to study EU environmental law needs hardly to be underlined. While, on the one hand, the EU is often perceived as a global green standard-setter because of its ambitious environmental policies, the content and implementation of these environmental standards, also in the internal order, which in fact should lead to a transition of our society to a more sustainable one, comes along with many legal questions and disputes.
The summer of 2021 saw the successful completion of ten master theses. The topics discussed are diverse and vary from the codification of climate neutrality in the new European Climate Law to the protection of wolfs in France as required by EU nature conservation law. The students were supervised by MCEL staff members and several seminars were organised to discuss research methodology and research results. The coordination of the project was done by Prof. Dr. Marjan Peeters, Professor of Environmental Policy and Law. Marguerite Apraxine (bachelor student European Law School) provided administrative support to the thesis project.
Overview of participants and thesis topics
1. Dorien Coppens, 'Democratic values in the Financial Dimension of the European Green Deal';
2. Anna Katharina Damm, 'Access to Corporate Information on Environmental Matters';
3. Audrey Danthinne, 'Aarhus Convention: A presumed standing for ENGOs under Article 9(3)?';
4. Janique Gommans, 'An Attempt to Merge EU Transport & Climate Legislation';
5. Laura Herreras, 'Enshrining Climate Neutrality in the EU';
6. Nina Klubert, 'Addressing the Compliance Deficit with EU Environmental Law: What Role for the European Environmental Agency?';
7. Mathieu Koch, 'The compliance of the French wolf policy with EU law: a legal analysis';
8. Margarida Martins, 'Trade and Sustainable Development chapters in EU Free Trade Agreements';
9. Maria Matias, 'Does the territorial principle establish jurisdiction for the European Union to extend the scope of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme to international aviation? An international law perspective';
10. Maritje Weydemann, 'The possibility of taking more stringent protective measures under Article 193 TFEU for Member States under EU-environmental law: Illusion or Reality?'.
Greening Europe thesis project
The overview contains the abstracts of all thesis projects. Not all theses are published in full since some of them are considered for publication elsewhere.
Overview of abstracts
Janique Gommans (2021) - An Attempt to Merge EU Transport & Climate Legislation: The 2020 Update of the Single European Sky
Laura Herreras Bartolomé (2021) - Enshrining Climate Neutrality in the EU: A discussion on the choice between a collective and national targets of climate neutrality from an EU law perspective
Nina Klubert (2021) - Addressing the Compliance Deficit with EU Environmental Law: What Role for the European Environmental Agency?
Margarida Luciano Martins (2021) - Trade and Sustainable Development chapters in EU Free Trade Agreements: Challenging the exclusion of sanctions as a tool of inducing compliance with environmental standards in the context of international trade
Maria Matias (2021) - Does the territorial principle establish jurisdiction for the European Union to extend the scope of the EU Emission Trading Scheme to international aviation? An international law perspective
Maritje Weydemann (2021) - The possibility of taking more stringent protective measures under Article 193 TFEU for Member States under EU environmental law: Illusion or Reality?
Justifying a presumed standing for environmental NGOs
As a follow up to this thesis, this article is published: Audrey Danthinne, Mariolina Eliantonio, Marjan Peeters Justifying a presumed standing for environmental NGOs: A legal assessment of Article 9(3) of the Aarhus Convention, RECIEL 2022 1-10, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/reel.12450