Panel discussion on investment protection in the European Union
On 8 June State Chancellery in cooperation with Riga Graduate School of Law organised a panel discussion “Investment protection in the European Union after the judgment of the Court of Justice in the case C-284/16 “Slovak Republic v. Achmea BV”. The panel discussion was organised to introduce and inform government officials, law students, academics, legal practitioners, and other interested parties with the European Court of Justice judgment “Slovak Republic v. Achmea BV” (case No C-284/16), and to discuss the consequences resulting from this judgment in regards to the investment protection rights in the European Union.
Janis Citskovskis, Director of the State Chancellery and Dr. Ineta Ziemele, RGSL professor and the President of the Constitutional Court, Latvia’s representative at the Permanent Court of Arbitration and a former Section President at the European Court of Human Rights delivered opening speeches. Janis Citskovskis emphasized the importance for international practitioners and academics to gather and discuss the recent events in the international investment area. Dr. Ineta Ziemele focused on the need to create a genuine and equal dialogue between different legal systems and their respective courts – Court of Justice of the European Union, EU member states courts, and international courts.
The discussion outlined legal practitioners and public international rights experts’ perception of the consequences of this judgment. Representatives of the European Commission, Republic of Slovakia also represented their views on the topic. The panel discussion provided useful insight on issues related to the application of the judgment in practice.
Participants of the discussion included: Dr. Angelos Dimopoulos (Queen Mary University of London), Dr. Richard Happ (a partner at the law office “Luther”), Barton Legum (a partner at the law office “Dentons” Paris office), Tomáš Lipták (Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic), Dr. Mārtiņš Paparinskis (University College London), Thomas Wiedmann (EU Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services, and Capital Markets Union). The panel discussion was moderated by Dr. Ilze Dubava (State`s Chancellery lawyer) and docent Inese Druviete (Riga Graduate School of Law).