Maastricht Centre for European Law
The Maastricht Centre for European law (MCEL) is committed to the study of European law from an interdisciplinary, transnational, and multilingual perspective. MCEL studies the law of the European Union in its constitutional and political context, with a specific focus on the tension between, on the one hand, uniformity and centralisation at the European level and, on the other hand, differentiation and autonomy of Member States. The research programme of the Centre analyses the European integration process from both an institutional and substantive perspective in a global context. MCEL research covers most areas of EU law. MCEL currently has 45 members, belonging to the department of International & European Law and the department of Public Law.
Research
MCEL’s research is an integral part of the Faculty’s research programme and relates to both the ‘integration’ and ‘interaction’ poles of that programme. It deals with the different dimensions of the legal integration process that takes place in the context of the European Union, and it pays due attention to the interactions, on the one hand between the EU legal order and public international law, and on the other hand between EU law and the national legal systems of its Member States.
There is thus a natural fit between the research agenda of MCEL and that of the Law Faculty as a whole. More specifically, the research of MCEL members relates to all five streams of the Faculty’s research programme, with some prevalence for the stream Institutions.
MCEL’s research takes place in all five Faculty research pillars:
1. Values
2. Institutions
3. Markets
4. Mobility
5. Digitalisation
News
Article by MCEL member Guido Bellenghi published in the European Journal of Risk Regulation
The article 'Neither Normalcy nor Crisis: The Quest for a Definition of Emergency under EU Constitutional Law' explore
Co-edited special issue by MCEL member Lilian Tsourdi on migration governance through funding in Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies 23(1)
The special issue, co-edited by Lilian Tsourdi and Federica Zardo, explores migration governance through funding while
MCEL Visiting Programme Autumn 2025-2026 - Applications open
The Maastricht Centre for European Law (MCEL) is pleased to announce the opening of the application period for its MCEL Visiting Programm
Article by MCEL member Leticia Díez Sánchez on EU cohesion policy published in CMLRev 62(1)
The article deals with the evolution of EU cohesion policy and its changing objectives, structure and nature.
Article by MCEL member Nozizwe Dube on EU equality law published in CMLRev 62(1)
The article examines the types of reasoning that the CJEU adopts in its judgements on equality law and their role in fostering a formal a
Events
PhD Research at MCEL: video on EU Fundamental Rights
MCEL PhD researchers Elin, Stevi and Valentina talk about their projects dealing with EU fundamental rights. Elin Börjedal examines the constellation of actors involved in fundamental rights protection in the EU and the division of responsibilities between them. Stevi Kitsou aspires to devise EU-wide principles and standards for countering hate speech online.
Zooming in on the challenge of protecting fundamental rights in the digital dimension, Valentina Golunova tackles the risks stemming from the use of AI in content moderation.
Watch their research stories
