Professor Letsas speaks at conference marking 20th anniversary of Latvia’s accession to the EU

Photo by Satversmes tiesa on Flickr 

Professor George Letsas (Professor of the Philosophy of Law at UCL Laws) delivered a keynote speech at the major conference which was held on Friday 1 March to honour the 20th anniversary of Latvia joining the European Union.

Speaking as part of a panel discussion on the European consensus and its impact on the European public order, he argued that consensus is not an appropriate interpretive tool for the European Court of Human Rights, because there is inevitable lag between what our common European values require and how much consensus can be found in the legislative record of Contracting States.

The Conference was held with Supreme Court judges from across Europe and judges of the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union in attendance. The event was opened by Aldis Laviņš (President of the Constitutional Court of Latvia), and Inese Lībiņa-Egnere (Minister for Justice); and ended with a speech by Professor Martins Paparinskis (Professor of Public International Law at the UCL Laws), who provided an overview of the main findings presented by the participants.

A recording of Professor Letsas’ lecture can be viewed on YouTube.