13 October 2025
Setting the Scene
Academic freedom and freedom of scientific research are enshrined in Article 13 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. For the longest time, however, this Charter article received practically no or very little attention in both scholarship and EU institutional and jurisprudential practice. The developments are many and rapid, and need to be assessed against the Art. 13 CFR-standard whose content is work-in-progress in judicial and policy practice as well as academic work. This symposium seeks to shed light on all of this and stimulate much needed further reflection. Continue reading >>
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29 January 2024
A Way Forward?
While included in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (CFR), academic and scientific freedom were for years hardly a focus for the EU. This no longer holds true. On 29 November 2023, the European Parliament invited stakeholders to discuss the state of academic freedom in Europe (STOA conference), including the role of the EU in its legal protection. The conference intertwines with two important developments, both driven by the EP. First, on 22 November 2023, the EP adopted its proposals for the amendment of the Treaties, with some relevant for academic freedom protection. Earlier this month, on 17 January 2024, the EP approved the Report calling on the Commission to initiate a legislative proposal on the promotion of the freedom of scientific research in the EU and providing recommendations on its content. In this blog post, we briefly discuss these two EP calls aimed at enhanced protection of academic and scientific freedom to assess to what extent they address the concerns raised by various stakeholders. Continue reading >>
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