About the European Criminal Law Academic Network, one of the two patrons of the journal
| Author | Anne Weyembergh |
| DOI | 10.1177/20322844221082932 |
| Published date | 01 March 2022 |
| Date | 01 March 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Editorial |
Editorial
New Journal of European Criminal Law
2022, Vol. 13(1) 3–4
© The Author(s) 2022
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DOI: 10.1177/20322844221082932
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About the European Criminal
Law Academic Network, one of
the two patrons of the journal
The European Criminal Law Academic Network (ECLAN) is the leading academic network
promoting and shaping research in European criminal law. It is one of the two patrons of the New
Journal of European Criminal Law (NJECL), which forms a key part of the network’s activities.
ECLAN celebrated its 16th anniversary in December 2021 and is therefore now in its 17th year.
When we launched the network in December 2004 with its other founding fathers and mothers –in
particular Serge de Biolley, Pedro Caeiro (University of Coimbra, Portugal), Sabine Gless (then part
of the Max-Planck-Institut für Ausl¨
andisches und Internationales Strafrecht, representing Ger-
many), Katja Sugman (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia), Henri Labayle (Universit ´
e de Pau,
France), Giovanni Grasso (University of Catania, Italy), Franck H ¨
ofpel (University of Wien,
Austria) and Adam Lazowski (then part of the Asser Institute, the Hague, but representing Poland) -
we could scarcely imagine what it would look like so many years later.
Throughout these years, we have had the pleasure of witnessing the emergence of a real scientific
community and of seeing that community grow and take shape. The network developed in con-
centric circles based around three coordinators. Since 2013, I have had the pleasure of jointly
coordinating ECLAN with my colleagues Katalin Ligeti (University of Luxembourg) and Valsamis
Mitsilegas (Queen Mary University of London). These coordinators work together with four contact
points from ECLAN’s management committee, which is in charge of the daily management of the
network and of the organisation of ECLAN’s events (currently Pedro Caiero (Coimbra University),
Sabine Gless (Basel University), Gintaras Svedas (University of Vilnius) and Robert Kert (Vienna
University of Economics and Business)). This committee is assisted in its missions by a team of
coordination assistants mainly based at the Universit´
e Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and is supported by
an assembly of contact points, which has expanded markedly over the years. From a dozen contac t
points, it has gradually grown in size and now comprises 32 contact points representing the 27 EU
Member States and five third States (UK, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Bosnia-Herzegovina).
Finally, the network also has around 120 members, all of whom are academics or researchers
specialised in EU criminal law.
We have enjoyed seeing the network’s scientific and research activities develop considerably.
Annual conferences have been organised since the very beginning. Although they were mainly
organised in Brussels and Luxembourg at first, new venues (e.g. Coimbra and London) have been
introduced over time. Entitled ‘Coming of Age? The European Arrest Warrant at Twenty’and co-
organised by the University of Westminster and the Queen Mary University of London, the 2021
iteration gave us the opportunity to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the European Arrest Warrant
and reflect together about this flagship instrument in the area of criminal justice within the EU. The
2022 ECLAN conference, which is entitled ‘EPPO One Year in Action: Towards Resolving
Complexity and Bringing Added Value’, is being organised by the University of Luxembourg and
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