The Inaugural Lecture held by Prof. Dr. Koen Lenaerts, President of the Court of Justice of the European Union, will address the value of solidarity which, pursuant to Article 2 TEU, characterises the society in which the EU develops. He will explain how the Court of Justice not only took solidarity into account to nuance the impact of EU fundamental freedoms and competition rules, but also contributed to the development of an EU-wide concept of solidarity through its interpretation of EU social rules. In that context, the importance of provisions of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU connected to the value of solidarity will be emphasised. However, it follows from the case-law of
the Court of Justice that solidarity also has implications for mutual relations between Member States in the fiscal and social areas. President Lenaerts will refer in particular to judgments urging the Member States to fight abuses of EU secondary law instruments in those areas, in line with the principle of sincere cooperation. Those judgments illustrate the role which the Court of Justice can play in protecting the Member States’ capacity to finance their own solidarity policies.

In addition, Prof. Ruth Mason, who holds a Chair at the University of Virginia and was appointed a Max Planck Law Fellow, will present her research program "Federalism and Solidarity".

The event marks the launch of the newly founded "Max Planck Hub Social and Fiscal State", a cooperation of the Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance and the Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy. To participate, please register until 15 January at: gabriele.auer@tax.mpg.de