PhD student: Mrs M. Kappé

Promotor: Mrs Dr E. Muir

Duration: 1/9/2023 - 31/8/2029

Abstract:

Mutual trust is of fundamental importance in EU law and in horizontal transnational judicial interaction in specific. One of the most important forms of that interaction is judicial cooperation in criminal and civil matters in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ) in the form of mutual recognition based on mutual trust. Illiberalism in the EU has put judicial cooperation under pressure. Despite the Court of Justice of the EU's position that mutual trust must be presumed and may only be rebutted in exceptional circumstances, recent research indicates (dis)trust to be significant to judges engagement in judicial cooperation, and hence the very functioning of the AFSJ. Little empirical research has been conducted on what factors drive (dis)trust in judicial cooperation in the AFSJ. Using a mixed-method approach, combining legal doctrinal with qualitative research, this project aims to fill this void by asking the question: What are the roles and drivers of micro-, meso- and macro- (dis)trust in judicial cooperation in the AFSJ? To answer this question, the research will analyse the nature of the relationship between the principle of mutual trust and de facto trust in judicial cooperation in the AFSJ. It will also assess what role trust plays in judges decision to engage in judicial cooperation in the AFSJ, as well as what the drivers of (dis)trust in that cooperation are.