Laurent Pech is Professor of European Law, Jean Monnet Chair of European Public Law (2014-17) and Head of the Law and Politics Department at Middlesex University London. Laurent is also a Visiting Professor of Law at Bordeaux University, an expert for eLabEurope, and a member of the editorial board of the Hague Journal on the Rule of Law as well as a member of the scientific board of the Montesquieu Law Review. He has been a visiting professor at many institutions including his alma mater: Aix-Marseille University. He was recently appointed Fernand Braudel Fellow at the European University Institute (Jan-April 2018).
Professor Pech specialises in EU Public Law and has lectured in a variety of subjects including EU Constitutional Law, EU Internal Market Law, EU Competition Law and EU Fundamental Rights Law. His current primary area of research is rule of law backsliding in Europe.
Prior to his appointment at Middlesex University, Laurent was Jean Monnet Lecturer in EU Public Law at the National University of Ireland Galway. During the course of his academic career, Laurent also worked in Canada (Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Canada Research Chair on Globalization, Citizenship and Democracy) and in the United States (Emile Noel Fellow at NYU Law). He has worked as a legal consultant in many post-conflict or EU candidate countries such as Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Latvia and Montenegro, either on behalf of the Council of Europe or in the context of EU-funded assistance and training programmes. He has also worked as an external examiner at many institutions including the Law Society of Ireland.
Professor Pech is the author of two books and more than one hundred scholarly publications, on such subjects as the rule of law in the EU, the scope of application of European human rights standards and the right to free speech in comparative law. His most recent papers are generally available on the website of the Social Science Research Network and/or on Academia.edu. He also regularly contributes to legal blogs such as the Verfassungblog.
Professor Pech's scholarship has been cited by national and European courts as well as EU bodies. In 2011, Laurent was awarded a European scholarship prize for outstanding research on the EU's Lisbon Treaty. The same year, the Undergraduate Awards of Ireland and Northern Ireland also awarded him a certificate in recognition of excellence in lecturing.
Amongst his most recent publications are:
'Illiberalism Within: Rule of Law Backsliding in the EU' (2017) 19 Cambridge Yearbook of European Legal Studies 3-47 (with Professor Kim Scheppele)
‘Thinking Justice Outside the Docket: A Critical Assessment of the Reform of the EU’s Court System’ (2017) 54(1) Common Market Law Review 1-48 (with Professor Alberto Alemanno)
‘Respect for Human Rights as a General Objective of the EU’s External Action’ (with Dr Annabel Egan), in S. Douglas-Scott and N. Hatzis (ed), Research Handbook on EU Law and Human Rights (2017), pp. 243-266
‘Systemic Threats to the Rule of Law in Poland: Between Action and Procrastination’, European Issue no 451, Foundation Robert Schuman, 13 November 2017 (with Professor Sébastien Platon - available also in French and Polish)
‘Better late than never: On the European Commission’s Rule of Law Framework and its first activation (2016) 54(5) Journal of Common Market Studies 1062 (with Professor Dimitry Kochenov)
An EU mechanism on Democracy, the Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights, Research report commissioned by the European Parliamentary Research Service (PE 579.328, April 2016)
‘The EU as a Global ‘Rule of Law Promoter’: The Consistency and Effectiveness Challenges’ (2016) 14(1) Europe-Asia Journal 7
'Monitoring and Enforcement of the Rule of Law in the EU: Rhetoric and Reality' (2015) 11(3) European Constitutional Law Review 512 (with Professor Dimitry Kochenov)
'Renforcer le respect de l'Etat de droit dans l'UE: Regards critiques sur les nouveaux mécanismes proposes par la Commission et le Conseil', Policy Paper of Fondation Robert Schuman no. 356, 11 mai 2015 (with Professor Dimitry Kochenov)
French (mother tongue)
Italian (basic)
Serbo-Croatian (basic)
Research Interests:
EU Public Law
European Human Rights Law
Rule of Law (doctrinal & practical issues)
Pech, Laurent (2020) Dealing with ‘fake judges’ under EU Law: Poland as a case study in light of the Court of Justice’s ruling of 26 March 2020 in Simpson and HG. Working Paper. RECONNECT, Leuven, Belgium.
Pech, Laurent (2020) Right to an independent and impartial tribunal previously established by law under Article 47 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. In: The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights: A Commentary, 2nd Edition. Peers, Steve and Hervey, Tamara and Kenner, Jeff and Ward, Angela , eds. Hart Publishing, United Kingdom. (Accepted/In press)
Pech, Laurent (2020) EU external Human Rights policy. In: EU External Relations Law. Wessel, Ramses A and Larik, Joris , eds. Hart Publishing. ISBN 9781509926756 (Accepted/In press)
Pech, Laurent (2020) The rule of law in the EU: the evolution of the Treaty framework and rule of law toolbox. In: The Evolution of EU Law. Craig, Paul and de Búrca, Gráinne , eds. Oxford University Press, UK. (Accepted/In press)
Kelemen, R. Daniel and Pech, Laurent (2019) The uses and abuses of constitutional pluralism: undermining the rule of law in the name of constitutional identity in Hungary and Poland. Cambridge Yearbook of European Legal Studies , 21 . pp. 59-74. ISSN 1528-8870
