Defending the Rule of Law in the EU

About the Speech:

In his address to the IIEA, Mr Justice Clarke discusses the challenges which are currently posed to the rule of law in the European Union. He outlines his views on the gravity of the threat to the rule of law and examines whether this threat has the potential to be an existential one for the EU. A series of judgements from EU Member State national courts in recent years have questioned the supremacy of the Court of Justice of the European Union, which may have repercussions for judiciaries in other Member States, such as Ireland. Mr Justice Clarke offers a view on what national courts can do to address such challenges. He also addresses potential difficulties stemming from the different ways that membership of the Union and the status of international treaties are addressed in the constitutions of Member States.

About the Speaker:

Mr. Justice Frank Clarke was Chief Justice of Ireland from July 2017 to October 2021.  He was called to the Bar of Ireland in 1973 and to the Inner Bar in 1985. He was appointed a judge of the High Court in 2004 and a judge of the Supreme Court in 2012. He was the ACA-Europe Correspondent for the Supreme Court from 2013 to 2021 and was a Vice-President of the Network of the Presidents of the Supreme Judicial Courts of the European Union. He is a former professor at King's Inns, a Judge in Residence at Griffith College Dublin, an Adjunct Professor of Trinity College Dublin and of University College Cork. He is a member of the panel provided for in Article 255 of the TFEU to provide an opinion on the appointment of judges to the Court of Justice of the European Union.