On Thursday 18 September 2025, the EFTA Court held its annual Conference in the Salle Panoramique in the Hemicycle building, the home of EFTA Court.
The conference was attended by over 180 participants, including Presidents and Members of EFTA States’ Supreme courts, the Vice President and judges of the European Court of Human Rights, judges and advocates general of the European Court of Justice and of the General Court, the President of the Supreme Court of Luxembourg, the President of the Administrative Court of Luxembourg, civil servants, practitioners, academics and others interested in the EEA and the activities of the EFTA Court. The conference was also streamed via the Court´s website reaching a broad audience.
President Páll Hreinsson opened the conference and warmly welcomed those present. Then it was the turn of the keynote speaker, Professor Takis Tridimas. Professor Tridimas is the founding Director of the Luxembourg Centre for European Law (LCEL) at the University of Luxembourg and a leading scholar in the field of European Union law. His keynote address “The Many faces of an internal market: Lessons from Europe and beyond” focused on the different internal markets and how they function; the legislative scope to regulate them at the federal level and the judicial scrutiny such legislation is subject to. Examples from the European Union, the United States, Canada and Australia were discussed and how their courts apply different approaches and may come to different conclusions.
Professor Tridimas’ address was followed by questions from the audience and a lively discussion on for example the difference of regulatory tools in the EU and US and how the political context can influence the outcome of court decisions.
The morning session, moderated by Judge Michael Reiertsen, started with the contribution of Professor Niamh Nic Shuibhne, from the School of Law of the University of Edinburgh, titled “When Words are Not Enough: Judging the Free Movement of Persons”. In her presentation, she discussed the material scope of the Citizenship Directive, 2004/38/EC, how it applies to all EEA citizens, even if the concept of “EEA citizenship” does not exist in EEA law, and how the European Courts have interpreted the Directive. Her presentation sparked much interest with the audience and raised questions resulting in discussions in particular on the source of the right to move and reside under the EEA Agreement and the “special relationship” between the EU and EFTA pillars of the EEA.
Following this, Professor Cecilia Rizcallah took the podium with her speech titled “Mutual Trust by Design? Exploring the Variable Degrees and Foundations of Confidence through the EU-EEA Special Relationship”. She gave an overview of how the foundational principle had developed in the judgments of the Court of Justice. Then she explored several fascinating issues in relation to the EU-EEA special relationship during the last decades and how the concept of “mutual trust” plays an important role in shaping that relationship. The presentation inspired both interesting questions and comments from the audience.
The afternoon session, moderated by Judge Bernd Hammermann, started with the contribution of Associate Professor Dorota Leczykiewicz from the Faculty of Law of the University of Oxford, under the heading “Interpreting or Reasoning with Law? On Two Conceptions of Judicial Authority in EU Law”. In an inspirational presentation, she addressed, inter alia, the issue concerning the authority to make law, how the law develops and how judgments can lead to change of the law. She emphasised the need for Courts to be transparent in explaining in what way they were developing the law and that reasoning should be convincing to the parties concerned. During the discussions that followed, the issue of the dialogue between the courts and other branches of government was one of the issues raised.
The second speech of the afternoon session was delivered by Dr. Georges Baur, Head of Legal Research at the Liechtenstein-Institut. His speech was titled “The EU’s Association Agreement with Andorra and San Marino – in what way is it “EEA plus” and offered an overview of the structure of the Association Agreement and the relationship of the states party to that agreement to the EU. It also raised the question of whether the Association Agreement goes further than the EEA Agreement, hence “EEA Plus” and in the discussion following the presentation, the issue of to what extent this agreement reflected the lesson learned in the operation of the EEA Agreement.
The concluding address of this year´s conference was offered by Professor Ola Mestad from the University of Oslo and an ad-hoc judge at the EFTA Court for almost two decades. He reflected on the functioning of the Court from his standpoint as an ad-hoc judge and how its main features have developed during that period. He took the audience through four of the most important cases he participated in as an ad-hoc judge and ended by offering his views on the future development of the EFTA Court’s functions and organisation.
Finally, President Hreinsson brought the 2025 EFTA Court Conference to an end by thanking all speakers and participants for their contribution and participation and stated that he looked forward to seeing everyone again next year.
