Leonard Besselink held the chair of Constitutional Law in the Faculty Law since 2012, is affilliated to the Amsterdam Centre for European Law and Governance, ACELG. Although emeritus since September 2021, he still teaches and is engaged in research. Since 2021 he teaches at the School of Law of LUISS Guido Carli in Rome, where he has also been teaching in the School of Government.

He is a member of the Royal Netherlands Society of Sciences and Humanities.

He obtained a doctorate in social and political sciences at the European University Institute, Florence, Italy.

His research focuses on issues of European, comparative and national constitutional law. In particular the constitutional nexus between EU and national constitutional law is one of his main research themes as well as issues of fundamental rights protection in Europe.

For a cv, key publications and full list of publications (with links to digital versions in the UvA repository) see the other tabs on this page.

CV Summary

Leonard F.M. Besselink

e-mail: l.besselink@uva.nl

work:    +31 20 525 3966 (secretariat)

Leonard F.M. Besselink has been Professor of Constitutional Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Amsterdam since 2012, and is affilliated to the Amsterdam Centre for European Law and Governance, ACELG, and is emeritus since September 2021. Prior to his position in Amsterdam he held the chair of European Constitutional Law at the University of Utrecht.

He holds a degree from the University of Leiden (Netherlands) and the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced Internatio­nal Studies (Bologna Center), and a doctorate in social and political sciences of the European University Institute, Florence (Italy).

He is a member of the Royal Dutch Society of Sciences and Humanities, and was a member of the Royal Committee on the Constitution (Staatscommissie Grondwet 2008-2010) tendering advise to the Netherlands government on amending the NL Constitution to bring it up to date in various respects.

He has participated in many research consortia and has published mainly in the fields of national constitutional law, European constitutional law and comparative constitutional law, with a particular thematic focus on the nexus between public international, European Union and national law, as well as issues of the rule of law and fundamental rights protection in Europe.

He has taught at the Universities of Amsterdam, Utrecht, as well as LUISS (Rome), and has given countless guest lectures as well as invited speeches at many academic institutions, international conferences and colloquia.

He has supervised a variety of doctoral dissertations and been an external examiner of doctoral dissertations in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Denmark and Finland.

Key publications [thematically]

Leonard F.M. Besselink

On ‘constitutional relations’

Constitutional conflict between EU and national law and its resolution: The rule of law, ultra vires review, constitutional identity review and primacy. In: Studies in Honour of Judge Manuel Dacosta Andrade, Lisbon 2023 (forthcoming)

A Composite European Constitution/ Een samengestelde Europese constitutie. [Inaugural Address Jean Monnet Chair European Constitutional Law, University of Utrecht, 10 January 2007.] Groningen, Europa Law Publishing, 2007, 22 + 22 pp.

The Notion and Nature of the European Constitution after the Lisbon Treaty. In: European Constitutionalism beyond Lisbon, Jan Wouters (ed.), Luc Verhey (ed.), Philipp Kiiver (ed.), Uitgeverij Intersentia, 2009, pp. 261-281.

[With Monica Claes, Šejla Imamović, Jan Herman Reestman] National Constitutional Avenues for Further EU Integration, Study, European Parliament, Directorate General for Internal Policies, Policy Department C: Citizens' Rights And Constitutional Affairs, Legal Affairs Committee, Constitutional Affairs Committee, PE 493.046 EN, Brussels March 2014, 277 pp. [common responsibility for main, synthetic part of the report; responsibility for the chapters on Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, Portugal, Malta, Bulgaria]

Does EU Law Recognize Legal Limits to Integration? Accommodating diversity and its limits. In: The EU Between 'an Ever Closer Union' and Inalienable Policy Domains of Member States,  Herausgegeben von Prof. Dr. Thomas Giegerich, LL.M. (Virginia), Oskar Josef Gstrein, LL.M., Sebastian Zeitzmann, LL.M. 2014, 557 S., Broschiert, ISBN 978-3-8487-0995-3 pp. 59-78.

Parameters of Constitutional Development: The Fiscal Compact In Between EU and Member State Constitutions. In: The EU after Lisbon: Amending or Coping with the Existing Treaties? Rossi, Lucia Serena, Casolari, Federico (Eds.) Springer Verlag 2014, X, 334 p. 2 illus., 1 illus. in color, ISBN 978-3-319-04590-0 , pp. 21-35

On constitutional democracy and the rule of law

The primacy of the rule of law and member states’ constitutional identities [Reflections on divergence and convergence, and solving constitutional conflict]. In: The Rule of Law's Anatomy in the EU: Foundations and Protections (Oxford, Hart, forthcoming)

The Bite, the Bark and the Howl: Article 7 TEU and the Rule of Law Initiatives, in: The enforcement of EU law and values: ensuring Member States' compliance. Jakab, A. & Kochenov, D. (eds.). Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 128-144, 17 pp., Chapter 8 [April 2017]. Pre-publication in a longer version as Amsterdam Centre for European Law and Governance Research Paper No. 2016-01.

Talking about European Democracy. (2017). European Constitutional Law Review, 13(2), 207-220. doi:10.1017/S1574019617000128. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/european-constitutional-law-review/article/talking-about-european-democracy/C1B1E92CE91F11EFC0B0765A264B5AF0#

On Some of the Pre-Conditions for Democracy under the Rule Of Law. Περιμένοντας τους Bαρβάρους. Law in the days of Constitutional Crisis. Studies offered to Mirosław Wyrzykowski. CH Beck/Nomos 2021.

On ‘constitutional identity’

National and constitutional identity before and after Lisbon, In: 3 Utrecht Law Review (2010), November 2010, pp. 36-49. at http://www.utrechtlawreview.org/

Respecting Constitutional Identity in the EU.  A Case Note to ECJ (Second Chamber), Case C 208/09, 22 December 2010, Ilonka Sayn-Wittgenstein v Landeshauptmann von Wien. In: 49 CMLRev (2012) nr 2 pp. 671–693

The Persistence of a Contested Concept: Reflections on 10 years Constitutional Identity in EU law. In European Public Law, volume 27, issue 3, 597-612

On fundamental rights

The Protection of Fundamental Rights Post-Lisbon: The Interaction between the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, the European Convention on Human Rights and National Constitutions. Questionnaire and General Report. In: Reports of the XXV FIDE Congress Tallinn 2012, Volume 1: The Protection of Fundamental Rights Post-Lisbon, Tallinn 2012, Tartu University Press. Pp. 1-139.

Parameters of Constitutional Conflict after Melloni. In: European Law Review 2014,39( 4), 531-552.

Should the European Union Ratify the European Convention for Human Rights: Some Remarks on the Relations between the European Court of Human Rights and the European Court of Justice. In: Constituting Europe: the European Court of Human Rights in a national, European and global context. Andreas Føllesdal/ Geir Ulfstein/ Birgit Peters (eds.) Cambridge Studies on Human Rights Conventions, Cambridge University Press, ISBN-13: 978110702444,  2013 , pp. 301-333

The European Union and The European Convention On Human Rights: From Sovereign Immunity in Bosphorus to Full Scrutiny under the Reform Treaty? In: Changing Perceptions of Sovereignty and Human Rights: Essays in Honour of Cees Flinterman, Intersentia Antwerpen 2008, pp. 295-309

Multiple Political Identities: Revisiting the ‘Maximum Standard’. In: Citizenship and Solidarity in the European Union – from the Charter of Fundamental Rights to the Crisis, the state of the art. Alessandra Silveira (ed.), [Euroclio Series] Peter Lang, (Bern/Bruxelles) 2013.

Entrapped by the Maximum Standard. On Fundamental Rights, Pluralism, Subsidiarity in the European Union. In: Common Market Law Review, vol 35 (1998), no. 3, pp 629-680

Grenzen aan grenzenloosheid - algemene leerstukken van grondrechtenbescherming en de EU, L.F.M. Besselink en H.R.B.M. Kummeling (red.), WEJ Tjeenk Willink Deventer 1998, XIII + 287 pp.

On EU and national parliaments

National Parliaments in the EU’s Composite Constitution: a Plea for a Shift in Paradigm. In: Ph. Kiiver (ed.), National and Regional Parliaments in the European Constitutional Order, Groningen: Europa Law Publishing, 2006. ISBN: 9076871639, pp. 117-131

On constitutional adjudication

The Proliferation of Constitutional Law and Constitutional Adjudication, or How American Judicial Review Came to Europe After All. Utrecht Law Review. Volume 9, Issue 2, March 2013, pp. 19-35.

Ius Publicum Europaeum: Verfassungsgerichtsbarkeit in den Niederlanden. In: Handbuch IUS PUBLICUM EUROPAEUM, Band VI: Verfassungsgerichtsbarkeit, Prof. Dr. Armin von Bogdandy, Prof. Dr. Peter M. Huber (hersg.), C. F. Mueller Verlag, Heidelberg 2015, pp. 357-411. ISBN 978-3-8114-6006-5; updated and in English as Constitutional Adjudication in the Netherlands. In: The Max Planck Handbooks in European Public Law. Volume III: Constitutional Adjudication : Institutions. Edited by Armin von Bogdandy, Peter Huber, and Christoph Grabenwarter. Oxford University Press, ISBN 9780198726418. 2020. Lxvi +906 pp (also as e-book), at pp. 565-618. DOI:10.1093/oso/9780198726418.003.001

Being A Constitutional Court In A Post-Sovereign Inter-Constitutional Order. In: 35.^o Aniversário Tribunal Constitucional. Conferência Internacional. Lisboa – Centro Cultural de Belém. 24 e 25 de maio, 2018. [Commemorative Conference of the 35th Anniversary of the Constitutional Court, Lisbon  2018], pp. 95-107, Lisbon 2022. OA: https://www.tribunalconstitucional.pt/tc/content/files/tc_ebook_35anos/94/

Country studies in National constitutional law

Constitutional Law of the EU Member States, Leonard Besselink, Paul Bovend’eert, Hansko Broeksteeg, Roel de Lange, Wim Voermans (eds),  Kluwer Deventer, 2014, VI + 1765 pp. ISBN 978-90-13-09176-2 [and (co-)author of the chapters on The Italian Republic and on The Kingdom of the Netherlands]

Ius Publicum Europaeum: § 6 Grundstrukturen staatlichen Verfassungsrechts. In: Handbuch IUS PUBLICUM EUROPAEUM, Band I: Nationales Verfassungsrecht, Prof. Dr. Armin von Bogdandy, Prof. Dr. Pedro Cruz Villalón, Prof. Dr. Peter M. Huber (hersg.), C. F. Mueller Verlag, Heidelberg 2007, pp. 327-388; English version forthcoming at OUP Max Planck Handbooks on European Public Law

The Constitutional Duty to Promote the Development of the International Legal Order: the Significance and Meaning of Article 90 of the Netherlands Constitution. In: Netherlands Yearbook of International Law, Volume XXXIV, 2003, pp. 89-138

De Nederlandse Grondwet en de Europese Unie. [The Netherlands Constitution and the European Union, with H.R.B.M. Kummeling (Introduction and Chapter 1), R. de Lange (chapter 5 on decentralization), P. Mendelts (draft chapter 3 on parliament) and S. Prechal (Introduction and concluding chapter)] Europa Law Publishing, Groningen 2002. xii + 279 pp. NUR 823; ISBN 90-76871-10-8

Short CV

Leonard F.M. Besselink

Parklaan 14A

NL 2011 KV Haarlem

Netherlands

e-mail: l.besselink   AT   uva.nl

telephone work:    +31 20 525 3966 (secretariat)

Education

• Doctorate in Social and Political Science, European University Institute (Florence) (1988)
• Diplome in International Politics, Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies (1980)
• Degree of doctorandus in law, University of Leiden, Faculty of Law (specialization in international law and international organization, 1979)
• Kandidaatsexamen Netherlands Law at Free University Amsterdam (1975)
• Post-graduatel courses at Post-graduate Course International Organization at Inter-University Centre for Post-Graduate Studies, Dubrovnik (Sept.-Oct. 1978), Summer course of the Académie de Droit International de la Haye (1977)

Professional Experience

Career

• Teaching Professor of Constitutional Law, School of Law, LUISS Guido Carli, Rome (since 2021)
• Professor of Constitutional Law, University of Amsterdam (since 2012; emeritus since 2021)
• Professor of European Constitutional Law, Law Faculty, University of Utrecht (2005-2012)
• Associate professor of Constitutional Law, Law Faculty, University of Utrecht (1995-2005)
• Lecturer Constitutional Law, Faculty of Law, University of Amsterdam (1983-1995)

Visiting professorship/ fellowships

• Visiting Professor of European constitutional law at Libera Universitá Internazionale degli Studi Sociali LUISS, School of Government, Rome (since Spring 2015) 
• Henri G. Schermers Fellow of the Netherlands Institute for Social Sciences and Humanities NIAS (2011-2012)
• Visiting Professor and Fellow of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies of the European University Institute, Florence, Italy (2003-2004)
• Visiting Professor Constitutional Law, Faculty of Law, Ethiopian Civil Servants' College, Addis Ababa (yearly for short periods from 1998 to 2010)

Teaching experience

• Many bachelors’ and masters’ programme courses in constitutional law, comparative constitutional law, fundamental rights, EU fundamental rights protection, public law, EU institutional law.
• Graduate and PhD research seminars on ‘Dynamics of law in International and European Perspective’ (selected classes on (comparative) constitutional law in European and global context)
• Director of the selective Master’s Programme in Legal Research at the Law School, University of Utrecht (2004-2010) – [‘Best Master’s Programme by Research in the Netherlands’, Elsevier 2009; best master’s programme in law, Keuzegids Hoger Onderwijs 2009 and 2010]

PhD Supervision

• Fourteen successful PhD’s supervised as promotor and co-promotor since 2000.
• Membership of approximately 50 PhD defence committees, mostly at Law Faculties in the Netherlands, but also at the Theology Faculty of the  University of Utrecht (on the abortive Lex Ecclessiae Fundamentalis), as well as in Ghent, Leuven, Luxembourg, Copenhagen and Helsinki
• Several Master classes for PhD’s within the framework of the Inter-University Research School Ius Commune, at the Universities of Amsterdam and Utrecht and at the EUI, Law Department (May 2014)
• Dean for PhD affairs, Law Faculty, University of Utrecht 2004-2005

Research

Publications

• Approximately 275 publications, mainly in English and Dutch (see separate publication list); mainly in the field of national, comparative and EU constitutional law, the nexus between European, international and national (constitutional) law. See elsewhere on this webpage.

Keynote Speeches & Invited Lectures (selection for the last few years)

2021

• ‘The curious case of judicial review in the Netherlands: the primacy of international norms and lack of review of acts of parliament against constitutional provisions’, 26 November 2021, International Round-Table Constitutional Adjudication, University of Warsaw

• ‘Is there a shared understanding of the concept of the rule of law in the EU?’ Panel discussion Helsinki Rule of Law Forum Seminar 29 October 2021, Helsinki
• 'Pre-conditions for Democracy under the Rule of Law', Περιμένοντας τους Bαρβάρους. Law in a Time of Constitutional Crisis, Conference in honour of Mirosław Wyrzykowski, 16 October 2021, Warsaw
• Human right to Health: Solidarity in the Era of Health Care Commercialization, video presentation at Book Launch of the book with this title by Eduardo Arenas Catalan, 30 June 2021 https://www.ou.nl/-/webinar-human-right-health; https://player.ou.nl/wowzaportlets/embed?production=rDESPrn;  
• Italy in the Composite European Constitutional Order, Webex Guest Lecture in Constitutional Law LUISS, Rome –23 March 2021

2020

• Die relative Bedeutung des Rechts – über die Rechtmäßigkeit der Coronaregeln, Webinar 2 oktober 2020. Duits-Nederlandse Juristenconferentie 2020: Freiheitsrechte in Zeiten der Pandemie: Demokratien am Limit?  http://deutsch-niederlaendische-juristenkonferenz.de/?p=307
• Masterclass Ius Commune, Maastricht 26 June 2020. Commentator on Elin Börjedal, The division of labour in fundamental rights protection - research methods and methodology.
• Lezing over doorwerking en Urgenda. 23 februari 2020. Seminar internationale beleidsafspraken en soft-law Centrum voor Internationaal Recht (CIR),  Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken,  Den Haag.
• Urgenda: Kan de rechter het beter dan Greta Thunberg? 20 februari 2020 Symposium 'Zin of onzin? Klimaatwet- en rechtszaken’, Universiteit Leuven. Youtube opname https://youtu.be/D8BXOXUDzic?t=3690 
• [Urgenda] Constitutionele aspecten:  machtenscheiding en doorwerking van internationaal recht, Themabijeenkomst, Het URGENDA-arrest: analyse en vooruitblik. 24 januari 2020, Vereniging voor Milieurecht, Utrecht. https://www.milieurecht.nl/vmr-hr-inzake-urgenda; presentatie https://www.milieurecht.nl/bestanden/presentatie-l-besselink-vmr-urgenda.pdf

2019

• The Rule of Law and Democracy : Courts and Politics. 17 June 2019, Copenhagen, Centre for European for European and Comparative Legal Studies / Danish Association for European Law, Søren Kierkegaard auditorium, 9A-0-01, Njalsgade 76, 2300 København S. https://jura.ku.dk/cecs/calendar/2019/seminar-with-professor-leonard-f.m.-besselink/
• Separation of Powers within and beyond Europe. The evolution of a foundational concept. 12 April 2019, Rome Libera Universitá Internazionale degli Studi Sociali LUISS, with Antoine Vauchez, Robert Schütze, Sylvana Sciarra, Harm Schepel, Filippo Fontanelli, and others.,Presentation on ‘Courts and Democracy in an inter-constitutional context’. https://www.luiss.it/evento/2019/04/12/separation-powers-within-and-beyond-europe-evolution-foundational-concept-0
• Workshop Accountability and Control of European Multilevel Administration, (Felipe Bastos) ACELG Amsterdam  21 January 2019, chair of key lecture Graham Smith, Senior Advisor European Ombudsman
• Ronde Tafel conferentie A Constitution Fit for a Modern and Forward Looking Ukraine op 28 februari 2019, Kiev (met o.a. Aleksander Kwasniewski, Pat Cox, Roger Myerson, Šinkūnas Haroldas, Mirosław Wyrzykowski, Anders Aslund, John Herbst, Andreas Umland, Olof Petersson, Andreas Baumgartner, Xavier Philippe, Philip Hall, Matthias Hartwig, Yulia Tymoshenko, Hryhoriy Nemyria, Viktor Shyshkin, Petro Stetsyuk, Hennadiy Druzenko, Alona Shkrum), Deelnemer en spreker
• Mini-werkconferentie hervorming parlementair stelsel d.d. 18 april 2019, Ministerie van BZK, discussie en inbreng over EU paragraaf
• Meeting Constitutional Foundations, 17th - 18th May 2019, Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law Heidelberg, Funded by the Leibniz Project, ‘Structural Transformation of Public Law’, Deutsche ForschungsGemeinschaft. Discussion paper Martin Loughlin, and presentation Structure and Gestalt of the Netherlands Constitution
• Key note lecture: The Rule of Law and Democracy: Courts and Politics, Centre for European and Comparative Legal Studies (CECS) Faculty of Law, Københavns Universitet, 17 June 2019, in co-operation with the Danish Society for European Law; announcement  https://jura.ku.dk/cecs/calendar/2019/seminar-with-professor-leonard-f.m.-besselink/ and http://europaret.dk/index.php?module=FormExpress&func=display_formlist
• National constitutional identity 10 years on, 24-25 June 2019, Law Faculty – Maastricht University, The Netherlands (Conveners: Monica Claes, Bruno de Witte, Diane Fromage), closing speech ‘Reflections on National constitutional identity 10 years after Lisbon’
• Rule of Law within the EU - 30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Stockholm 24-25 November 2019. Swedish Network for European Law Studies, keynote
• De Economische Constitutie – Beginselen van de Democratische Rechtsstaat tussen Globalisering en Europeanisering. Staatsrechtconferentie 13 december 2019, organisator, openingslezing, slottoespraak

2018

• Presentation The Role of Law and Courts & The Role of Politics and  Political Actors in the EU Context. Roundtable presentations and debate. Kaarlo Thuori, Leonard Besselink e Gabor Halmai. Cesare Pinelli, Università La Sapienza, Roma, 1 October 2018
• Seminar Trust and the European Union as Rechtsgemeinschaft (A. von Bogdandy), discussant, 2 July 2018, Universiteit van Maastricht
• Mini-symposium over Fake News bij gelegenheid van het afscheid van Wouter Hins van de UvA, voorzitter, 14 juni 2018, Amsterdam
• Key-note lecture: Being a Constitutional Court in a Post-Sovereign Interconstitutional Order, International Conference 35.º Anniversary of the Constitutional Court of Portugal, Lisbon, May 24-25, 2018
• Presentation: Is the Concept of the Essence of Fundamental Rights Mirrored in European Domestic Constitutional Law?,
• Conference The Essence of Fundamental Rights in EU Law, 17-18 May 2018, Leuven (M. Dawson, O. Lynskey, E. Muir)
• Presentation: Enforcing Values: on Legal Possibilities and Limitations of Article 7 TEU.  The EU’s Rule of Law Framework and National Court Reforms: A Legitimate Concern? Joint Symposium of the Dutch Association for European Law (NVER) and the Dutch Association of Constitutional Law (Staatsrechtkring) Leiden

Research Networks

• Participation with ‘work package’ in  Integrated Programme, Securitization in Europe, CHALLENGE, Sixth EU Framework Programme, Workpackage 13: legal competence with regard to external borders and general programme activities
• Member of Network of Excellence CONNEX, Accountability in Europe, Sixth EU Framework Programme

Contract Research

• Some eighteen contracts, mainly for shorter academic projects mainly for public institutions (value per contract ranging from €2000 to € 950 000).

Prestigious prizes, distinctions etc.

• Member of the Koninklijke Hollandse Maatschappij van Wetenschappen (Royal Netherlands Society of Sciences and Humanities), Humanities Section.
• Member of the Royal Committee on the Constitution, Staatscommissie Grondwet (2009-2010)

Administration

• Head of Public Law Department, Faculty of Law, University of Amsterdam (101 members, including support staff) (2014-2019)
• Chair Assessment Committee reviewing the Application for renewal of the Centre for European and Comparative Legal Studies, Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen, 2019-2024 (2019)
• Chair Research Review and Assessment (Visitatiecommissie onderzoek) Faculty of Law Universityof Maastricht, 2009-2015 (2016)
• Member of the Mid-Term Review Research Assessment Committee, University of Maastricht (2014)
• Member External Advisory Board CES (Centre for European Constitutionalization and Security), Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen (2013)
• Chair of Research Assessment Committee Faculty of Law and Faculty of Canon Law, Catholic University of Leuven (2012)
• Member of Faculty and Departmental Boards, countless faculty committees, including search committees, selection committees and advisory committees for full professors and associate professors.