MOBILE – Mobility Law Open Lab with Virginia Passalacqua

Silent Justice: Exploring the lack of EU litigation for migrant rights in Greece

Guest presenter: Virginia Passalacqua is an Assistant Professor at the the University of Turin, Italy.

Presentation: Non-mobilization is understudied in the legal mobilization field. This is due, in part, to a selection bias: scholars tend to focus on successful cases of legal mobilization and disregard instances in which groups don’t try or ultimately fail to bring claims against their government. This can be problematic because non-mobilization cases offer vital insights into the obstacles that individuals and groups face on the road to justice.

This article explores the factors that inhibit legal mobilization via the EU Court of Justice. It uses the case of Greece, which despite being crossed by large migration flows, has never made a preliminary reference in the migration and asylum fields until 2023. Why is Greece, the EU frontline immigration country, a zero-reference case?

Drawing on qualitative and doctrinal research, this paper tests two hypotheses. The first is derived from the ‘judicial empowerment thesis’ and posits that Greek judges proved reluctant to refer for political or institutional reasons. The second hypothesis stems from recent scholarship that has unveiled the role of lawyers as promoters and engineers of EU litigation; following this, we should expect that a lack of references means a lack of activist lawyers, skills, or resources.

Time: 16 November 2023 13:00-14:15

Place: MOBILE – 6B-2-22 Southern Campus + ONLINE

Online participation

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