New-Gen Association Agreements and the Role of the European Court of Justice

iCourts lunch seminar with Johannes Rohrmann, University of Zurich.

During the lunch seminar, I will present the topic of my doctoral thesis. My project examines the methodology employed by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) when interpreting association agreements between the European Union (EU) and third countries, with particular focus on the newest generation of association agreements (new-gen association agreements). The project analyses the relationship between EU law's methodological approaches (teleology and effet utile) and customary rules on treaty interpretation as codified in the Vienna Convention. Through a systematic examination of methodological provisions in several association agreements and case law, this research seeks to identify the ECJ's methodological patterns in interpreting association agreement provisions, thereby contributing to a deeper understanding of the ECJ’s judicial reasoning in this context.

Bio

Johannes Rohrmann is a doctoral candidate and Research and Teaching Fellow at the Schindler Centre for International Law and the Chair of Public Law, European Law and International Economic Law at the University of Zurich, held by Prof. Dr. iur. Matthias Oesch. He studied law at the Universities of Fribourg, Zurich, and Leuven. His research interests lie in European Union law, especially EU external relations law and EU constitutional law. In his doctoral thesis, he examines the role of the Court of Justice of the European Union in interpreting (recent) association agreements between the EU and third countries.