Kas Bakx wins the 2020 Jean Monnet Network EULEN Master Thesis Award
Kas Bakx is the winner of the 2020 Jean Monnet Network EULEN Master Thesis Award. The title of his thesis is: “Tightening the screws to enforce independence”. Kas graduated cum laude in European Law at Utrecht University in 2020. He wrote his master's thesis on the proposal to suspend EU funding in case of generalised deficiencies as regards the rule of law in a Member State.
Kas has written a blog post in which he presents some findings from his master's thesis. It starts with a powerful image: "On the 11th of January 2020, judges from 20 European countries marched with their Polish colleagues through Warsaw in a silent protest against repressive new measures aimed at Polish judges. The many EU flags rising above the crowd could be seen as cries for help to Brussels. We cannot defend our independence alone, we need the EU to step in and step it up."
In the blog post and in his thesis, Kas Bakx studies the principle of judicial independence and the effectiveness of the EU's approach to protect this principle in its Member States through, inter alia, infringement proceedings and the Article 7 TEU-procedure. The prospected effectiveness of the proposal to suspend EU funding was assessed in light of this analysis.
The master's thesis was graded 8,5/10 (GPA 4,00). First supervisor was dr. Tony Marguery and second supervisor: dr. Salvatore Nicolosi.
About the Jean Monnet Network EULEN Master Thesis Award
To support original research and young researchers working on the topic of EU law enforcement, the Jean Monnet Network offers an annual master thesis award for the best master's thesis written on a topic falling within the thematic scope of the network. The award involves a certificate and the sum of € 1,000. The thesis has to be written at one of the EULEN partner universities and should be of exceptional quality. The thesis can be written in Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Polish, or Spanish. Entrants must also submit an English blog post reflecting the essence of their thesis (max. 500 words). The members of the jury will be appointed by the EULEN coordinators based on the language of submissions.
More information on the award can be found on the EULEN website.