"How much critical distance in the academic study of European law?" [In English]

The lecture will present some reflections on what could be called the sociology of the academic discipline of European Union law: what is the proper role of academics who study EU law and how, in particular, should they relate to the work of the practitioners of European law who are active in the institutions of the European Union, in the Court of Justice, the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Council of Ministers and the many other bodies and agencies? Proximity between legal scholars and legal practitioners exists in many fields of the law but is particularly marked in the field of European law. The lecture will reflect on the reasons for that ‘close encounter’ and on the normative question of how much critical distance EU law scholars should keep towards the EU institutions.