Kicking off the Specialisation Phase in Berlin!
Last weekend, the Executive Master students of the 2nd year, met for their first 2025 workshop in Berlin. The January workshop kicks off the specialisation phase of the Master: After taking the exams of the advanced courses, the students engaged in individual presentations to train their presentation skills.
A highlight of this workshop was the simulation of a real case before the European Court of Justice. As CIFE tradition requires, students dressed in original lawyer’s gowns from the Berlin district court, each of them taking an active role as either applicant, agent of a member state or the European Commission, Advocate general, Judge rapporteur and Judge. Written observations of the applicant, the member states and the European Commission and the opinion of Advocate General were presented. At the end of the day, the General Court gave its judgement. The students were guided in this unique experience by our expert Ralf Kanitz, representing Germany before the ECJ. We are now waiting for the real judgement of the ECJ!
The afternoon of day two was dedicated to a debating society exercise on conditionality and an interdisciplinary world café during which students and CIFE experts Wolfgang Wessels, Ralf Kanitz, Tamás Szigetvari and Thomas Traguth discussed Resilience and the Strategic Autonomy of the EU.
Convivial moments punctuated the weekend with the “crowning of the queen” during a French “galette des rois” tasting and a pleasant dinner in a lovely Italian restaurant.
We thank our students and experts for their active participation and wish them good luck with the start of their Master thesis/research papers. We look forward to meeting them again in March in Barcelona!