A team of undergraduate students from the School of Law of NKUA achieved notable distinction in the Final of the European Law Moot Court Competition 2022-2023, which took place in Luxembourg from 20 to 21 April before the Judges of the Court of Justice of the European Union. The team placed third worldwide, with the student acting as Advocate General, Adamantia Pavlopoulou, finishing second overall.
ELMC (http://www.europeanlawmootcourt.eu/) has been held under the auspices of the Court of Justice of the European Union since 1989, attracting over 80 European and American Universities. It is based on a moot court before the EU’s Court of Justice and includes written and oral proceedings phases. The Competition’s unique feature is its bilingualism, having teams pleading equally in English and French. Candidates submit their written pleadings between September and December, and the top 48 teams from this ‘written’ phase advance to the four regional finals of the oral proceedings phase. All regional finals take place before prominent academics, judges, and attorneys-at-law. The four winning teams of the regional rounds are then invited to the Court of Justice of the European Union to compete in the European Final.
The Competition’s case this year dealt with challenging issues in current European affairs, namely:
i. the imposition of sanctions under the Common Foreign and Security Policy against third countries and non-EU citizens and the potential for the Member States to adopt legislation reproducing such sanctions in their national legal orders,
ii. the liability for causing environmental damage due to occupational activities on a pleasure vessel, and
iii. the compatibility of national provisions for withdrawing nationality—and consequently European Union citizenship—with the principle of free movement of people.
The NKUA’s School of Law team consisted of our undergraduate students Ariadne Kanatsa, Maria Kollia, Adamantia Pavlopoulou, and Maria Fournogeraki, as well as Rania Sainidou and Myrto Katsouli, who participated in the preparation of the written pleadings.
Pinelopi Manteli, Vasilis Christodoulou, Theodora Sfakianaki, and Ioanna Pasia, i.e., our students who competed in the ELMC in 2021-2022, prepared this year’s participants. The contribution of the postdoctoral researcher, I Kourtis, was also very significant.
The team enjoyed the academic guidance of Associate Professors Rebecca-Emmanuela Papadopoulou and Emmanuel Perakis and the help of former Assistant Professor Metaxia Kouskouna.
