Jean Monnet Lecture Series:

• This freely accessible, hybrid, 3-year Jean Monnet lecture series (2024-2026) will feature scholars working on (areas connected with) migration law and governance from interdisciplinary and/or critical perspectives, as well as relevant policy-makers, civil society, and societal actors.

• A number of lectures and debates provide insights to current legal and policy developments at EU level, such as the New Pact on Migration and Asylum. The series also features contributions on the interaction of EU migration law with international refugee, migration, statelessness, and human rights law. Finally, other talks provide novel conceptual insights to the study of migration, such as decolonial or interdisciplinary approaches.

• The lecture series is convened by Dr. Lilian Tsourdi as part of the Jean Monnet Chair on EU Migration Law and Governance she holds at the Faculty of Law. The series is organised in cooperation with the research centers and groups MCEL, MACIMIDE and Glaw-NET. 

We cordially invite you to the upcoming lecture of the Jean Monnet EU Migration Law and Governance Lecture Series.  On 25 June our speaker is Lieneke Slingenberg, Professor of Migrants and the Rule of Law at the Amsterdam Centre for Migration and Refugee Law of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Lecture title: The 2024 EU Directive on reception conditions for asylum seekers: survival vs. dignity.

Abstract: On 22 May 2024, the new EU Directive on reception conditions for asylum seekers (Directive 2024/1346) was published in the Official Journal, as one of the elements of the New Pact on Migration and Asylum. It needs to be transposed into national law by 12 June 2026. In her lecture, Lieneke Slingenberg will discuss this new instrument of EU law and compare it with the current directive on reception conditions for asylum seekers (Directive 2013/33). Does the new directive provide more room for Member States to deviate from the norms in times of ‘crisis’? How does the continued use of ‘exceptional’ modalities to house asylum seekers, such as tents, sport halls and other kind of emergency shelters, relate to the new directive? Will the new directive put an end to widespread practices of restricting asylum seekers’ freedom of movement? She will argue that the new directive strengthens Member States’ obligation to ensure asylum seekers’ basic survival. However, by leaving room for a highly instrumental and disciplinary use of reception conditions by Member States, it falls short of ensuring asylum seekers’ dignity. 

Coffee & vlaai will be served after the lecture.

The series will take place physically and online. The Zoom link for the online sessions will be distributed later.