The Summer Program intends to cope with the main challenge constitutionalism and representative institutions are currently facing in Europe and beyond, namely the pandemic. By bringing together an interdisciplinary group of renown international scholars, in particular in the fields of constitutional and EU law and in political science, as well as professionals, the Summer program will try to untangle the following problematic knots: How has the COVID-19 outbreak affected the usual timing of democracy (ie. the holding of elections, referendums etc.) and the long-standing executive dominance? Are the effects of the pandemic going to be just temporary or permanent on the organization and the functioning of legislatures and with which implications over time? Which actors, at domestic and at supranational levels, have mainly contribute, directly or indirectly, to strike the balance amongst the many competing rights and interests at stake in the management of the pandemic? How has the epidemiological emergency influenced the relationship between representative and technocratic institutions, on the one hand, and between democratic legitimation and scientific expertise, on the other? What will be the likely role of parliaments in the recovery from the pandemic?
Draft Programme
Monday 12 July
- Morning
10.30-11.00 - Introduction to the course
11.30-13.00 – Opening lecture on “The transformation(s) of democracy by the pandemic?” TBD
- Afternoon
14.00-15.30 Group working and discussion on selected procedures adopted by Parliaments in reaction to the pandemic
17.00 - Visit to the Italian Chamber of Deputies TBC
Tuesday 13 July
- Morning
9.30-11.00 Lecture on “Post-pandemic legislatures as virtual parliaments?” Olivier Rozenberg (Sciences Po-Paris)
11.30-13.00 Workshop on “Adapting parliamentary organization and procedures to ICT technologies” Giancarlo Vilella (European Parliament) TBC and Nicola Lupo (Luiss University)
- Afternoon
14.00-15.30 Lecture on “Parliamentary oversight of the COVID-19 measures: the avenues for pre- and post- legislative scrutiny” Elena Griglio (Senate of the Italian Republic)
16.00-17.30 Lecture on “Parliamentary accountability in illiberal democracies during the pandemic” Aleksandra Maatsch (University of Wrocław)
17.30-18.30 – Presentations by the participants
Wednesday 14 July
- Morning
9.30-11.00 - Lecture on “Pandemic emergency measures and judicial review in the UK” Joelle Grogan (Middlesex University, London)
11.30-13.00 - Lecture on “Parliamentary administrations facing up to the pandemic” Giovanni Rizzoni (Italian Chamber of Deputies)
- Afternoon
14.30-16.00 - Workshop on “Emergency, executive rule-making, and parliamentary response Bruno Dias Pinheiro (Portuguese Assembly of the Republic) and Luigi Gianniti (Senate of the Italian Republic) TBC
16.00-18.00 – Written test
Thursday 15 July
- Morning
9.30-11.00 - Lecture on “Coping with the pandemic in autocratic regimes: the marginalization of the Hungarian Parliament” Tímea Drinóczi (University of Pécs)
11.30-13.00 - Lecture on “The protection of the rule of law during the pandemic in the framework of the Council of Europe” Iain Cameron (Uppsala University and European Commission for Democracy through Law) TBC
- Afternoon
15.00- Visit to the Senate of the Italian Republic TBC
Friday 16 July
- Morning
9.30 – 11.00 - Lecture on “The European Parliament’s response to the pandemic: Next Generation EU and beyond” Cristina Fasone (Luiss University)
11.30-13.00 - Lecture on “National Parliaments’ directions and control of the EU’s response to the pandemic” Ton Van der Brink (Utrecht University)
- Afternoon
14.00-15.30 Closing lecture on “Challenges and opportunities for the legislatures in the covid-19 crisis”Ittai Bar-Siman-Tov (Bar-Ilan University)
16.00- Commencement of diplomas
JM Module 2016-2019 on “Parliamentary accountability and technical expertise: budgetary powers, information and communication technologies and elections (PATEU)” - (project number no. 575392-EPP-1-2016-1-IT-EPPJMO-MODULE). Grant Agreement/Decision Nr 2016-2571