With the "Thyssen Lectures" the Fritz Thyssen Foundation is continuing a tradition that is initiated beginning in Germany in 1979 and followed by venues at a series of universitites in the Czech Republic, Israel, the Russian Republic and, most recently, in Turkey.

The series in Greece is being organised for a period of four years under the leadership of Prof. Vassilios Skouris, former President of the European Court of Justice and current Director of the Centre of International and European Economic Law (CIELL), and is dedicated to the framework topic of "the EU as a community of European law and values".

THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION - ENTRAPMENT FOR THOSE COMMITTED TO ITS CORE VALUES?
Article 2 TEU enumerates the European Union's core values, thereby setting out its legal foundation. The key components are encompassed by the notion of the rule of law. These are the basic commitments which each EU Member State must live up to, and the demands which they must attach to each other. The phrase "without the rule of law there can be no European Union" is entirely correct as a matter of legal principle. It is also of vital importance for the union to function as intended. The reality, however, is gloomier. Faced with a serious degradation of the rule of law in some Member States, it transpires that the EU is dangerously weak in upholding its constitutional core principles. Non-compliant Member States can neither be expelled nor effectively brought to come round. Even financial subsidies cannot be withheld. What emerges is a pattern of entrapment for the Member States that do remain faithful to the rule of law. Unless the union is able to find ways of saving itself from internal decay, both its funcitoning and its legitimacy are under serious threat.