CEUR Guest Lectures Series
Non-lawyers often find it difficult to understand the role and the decisions of the European Court of Justice. Often the Court is described as a policy-making body and its judgements are characterized as influenced by political considerations.
Politics are at the core of proceedings before the Court of Justice. Private parties, governments, and EU institutions do their best to influence the decisions of the Court and thereby the future of EU policies and the EU legal order. But how far can member states’ and EU politics have an effect on the Court’s judgements? And does political pressure itself make the Court a political body? Are there “policies” by the Court which can make the outcome of proceedings foreseeable? How do member states adjust to the jurisprudence of the Court?
These are some of the themes discussed in this presentation, drawing on a ten-year experience as a Government Agent before the Court of Justice and with examples from landmark cases such as Open Skies, Laval and others.
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Anders Kruse graduated in law from Lund University, Sweden, in 1969. He served in various judicial functions in District and Appeal Courts in northern Sweden for ten years. Thereafter, he joined the Civil Service in 1979 as General Counsel at the Swedish Labour Market Administration.
In 1998, Anders Kruse joined the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and stayed there until he retired as an ambassador in 2007. He has been the Swedish Agent before the European Court of Justice and the Swedish representative in the Council Working Group for matters concerning the Court of Justice. He also represented Sweden in the “Friends of the Presidency” Working Party, preparing the reforms of the Court of Justice in the Treaty of Nice.
Anders Kruse has also been Head of the Swedish Foreign Ministry’s Legal Service for EU Affairs, and as such responsible for national legislation concerning implementation of EU Treaties, Trade, International Sanctions and Export of Arms. He has also negotiated extensively in the United Nations and elsewhere in matters concerning international sanctions.
Anders Kruse, a father and grandfather of several children, now lives in Helsinki, Finland. He lectures regularly on EU law at the Universities of Lund and Stockholm, Sweden.