On Thursday 24 September 2026, the annual Conference of the EFTA Court was held at the premises of the Court in the Hemicycle building in Luxembourg.
The conference was attended by close to 250 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 Administrative Court of Luxembourg, ESA College Members, civil servants, practitioners, academics and others who are interested in EEA-related subjects and the activities of the EFTA Court. The conference was also streamed via the Court´s website reaching a broad audience.
President Páll Hreinsson made the opening speech and welcomed those present at the conference before introducing the conference programme for the day. He went on to introduce the keynote speaker who, this year, was Professor Catherine Barnard from Cambridge University. Professor Barnard is a professor of European law, a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge and a Director of the Centre for European Legal Studies. She is an author of several books and articles on European law and related issues. Her work´s main focus is on the legal issues concerning migration and the legal and constitutional issues associated with Brexit, in particular examining the Withdrawal Agreement and the Trade and Cooperation Agreement.
In her keynote address “The UK/EU reset – lessons learned from the EEA and Switzerland”, Professor Barnard took the audience through the phases of the “dealignment” following from Brexit, including the negotiation of the Withdrawal Agreement and the Trade and Cooperation Agreement in a volatile political atmosphere. The introduction of “dynamic alignment” in EU relations was also discussed and how divergence had not worked effectively. In her explanation of “the reset”, Professor Barnard discussed the concepts of “dynamic alignment” and a “unilateral/autonomous dynamic alignment”, as well as different solutions which could work for different industries. She then discussed the “bilateral dynamic Alignment” and whether the different models of bilateral agreements between the EU and third countries (Gibraltar, Switzerland, EEA) could be useful for the future relationship between the UK and the EU.
Professor Barnard’s very interesting and well-received presentation was followed by questions from the audience, amongst them Dr Carl Baudenbacher, former President of the EFTA Court, and a lively discussion on for example dispute settlement within those different bilateral agreements.
The morning session, moderated by Judge Bernd Hammermann, started with the contribution of Piet Van Nuffel, professor of European law at KU Leuven and Senior Expert at the Legal Service of the European Commission, titled “Litigating judicial independence: the noble task of protecting judges and the complexities of upholding democracy, the rule of law and effective judicial protection”. In his presentation, he discussed the fundamental principles if the independence of the judiciary, the rule of law and the protection of judges. The process of selecting judges, both at a national and European level was examined and ways to improve the process at EU level were also suggested.
Following this, Jarne de Geyter, a post-doctoral researcher at the Ghent European Law Institute at Ghent University, took the podium with his speech titled “EU Accession to the ECHR: Is the EEA and Underexposed Risk to the autonomy of EU Law”. He examined several aspects of judicial protection within the EEA and recalled the main conclusions of the CJEU´s opinion 2/13 on EU accession to the ECHR. He argued that the instruments concerning this accession, in respect to applications before the ECtHR against non-EU Member States, associated with parts of the EU legal order such as the EFTA States represented a potential threat to the autonomy of EU law.
The morning session ended with questions and answers where the audience engaged in the discussion with the speakers.
The afternoon session, moderated by Judge Michael Reiertesen, started with a panel debate on the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights in the EEA – Inclusion or exclusion? The panellists were Nils Wahl, former Advocate General and Judge at the Court of Justice of the European Union, Oddný Mjöll Arnardóttir Judge at the European Court of Human Rights and Tarjei Bekkedal, professor of European Law at the University of Oslo. Each panellist gave a brief introduction to their approach to the subject matter and how human rights form part of the main principles of EEA law. This was followed by a lively discussion with the participation of the panellist, the moderator and the audience on for example issues such as the human rights jurisprudence of the Strasbourg and Luxembourg courts, the EU Charter and its applicability to the EEA and what the EFTA Court could and should do in that respect, and the different level of protection of fundamental rights in various circumstances.
The concluding address of this year´s conference was offered by Pernille Rieker, Director of ARENA Centre for European studies. Her research focuses on European integration from a political point of view and European foreign and security policy. Her contribution, titled “The future of the EEA in the new geopolitical order”, gave a political science perspective on the development and status of the EEA Agreement after more than 30 years in existence. She posed the question of whether the EEA has become increasingly insufficient to cover the relationship and cooperation between the EU and EFTA states and whether that could potentially involve a security problem. Finally, she discussed three different options for the development of the EEA Agreement in the coming years: continue as before but with more add-on arrangements; deeper association in selected fields like security and others; more fundamental discussion on future of the EEA EFTA states in the European context. The presentation was well received by an enthusiastic audience and several questions were raised as to the future options for the cooperation between the EU states and the EEA EFTA states.
Finally, Judge Reiertsen brought the 2026 EFTA Court Conference to an end by thanking all speakers and participants for their contribution and participation.
