Bachelor Student Prize Winner

Eighteen students completed their bachelor's degree in 2020 with a thesis that was labelled ‘excellent’ by their faculty. Here you will find a short introduction to these excellent theses in the form of an "elevator pitch" from each student, plus a video in which the supervisor briefly addresses the lucky winner.

Rebecca Aspetti

  Faculty of Law | Bachelor European Law

"A Genuine Lack of Confidence throughout the European Union Legal Space: The Rebuttal of Mutual Trust as a Ripe Instrument of Protection of Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights"

Rebecca's elevator pitch 
The lack of agreement on a common European approach regarding migration and the imbalance in the ROL mechanisms of various Member States has led to political instability, further eroding the presumption of equivalent fundamental rights protection across the EU, which constitutes the premise for mutual trust. From the undignified asylum reception conditions in Italy and Greece to the illiberal regimes under Orbán and under the Polish law and justice party, it appears fictitious and reckless to presume that the same degree of fundamental rights protection will be afforded in all EU states.  For this reason, this essay attempts to demonstrate that,  although partially controversial from the perspective of domestic sovereignty and Trias Politica, the rebuttal of mutual trust by national judges is capable of broadening European fundamental rights protection and it constitutes a a supplementary, ultima ratio medium to address rule of law backsliding.