DAAD project:
Social Security Coordination and Migration
Social Security Coordination and Migration – Recent trends and developments through the comparative law lens: a German-Greek perspective (2020-2022)
EU legislation on social security coordination poses numerous challenges to the institutional structures of Germany’s and Greece’s social security systems. These challenges and possible gaps in law and in practice will be identified and explored in depth by the study group of the German-Greek project, which is financed by DAAD for a 3-year period.
A collaborative research project in the field of comparative social law and European social security law has been established between the University of Applied Sciences Fulda and the Law Faculty of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. The project focusses on building bridges between Germany and Greece within the multiple dimensions of social security coordination (legal, political, administrative). The research questions will be investigated with regard to three pillars (pensioners, workforce, economically inactive persons) and in relation to multiple stages of migration.
One of the project’s aims is to connect the research results to teaching at both universities, thereby promoting learning in an international environment and fostering understanding of different perceptions on social security.
Students and young scholars will be involved in the research work as well. They will work side-by-side with senior researchers, legal practitioners, judges and public administration representatives within the scope of this collaborative project.
The Project Leader, Prof. Dr. Stamatia Devetzi (HS Fulda), will be assisted by Project Coordinator Effrosyni Bakirtzi.
Project Partner is Prof. Dr. Angelos Stergiou (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki).
Partners
Teaching
The First Seminar of the Collaborative Project of the University Partnership between University of Fulda – HS Fulda & the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki – AUTH took place online on 29 January 2021. Students from both Universities participated actively. The presentations of the seminar are available here:
Publications
Edited Book
Devetzi S. (ed), Minimum Income in Old-age: a legal comparison of selected European countries, Sakkoulas Publications, 2023, ISBN: 978-960-648-794-1.
This edited volume is the research output of the third year of the successful academic collaboration and partnership between the University of Fulda (Prof. Dr. Stamatia Devetzi) and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Prof. Dr. Angelos Stergiou) with the financial support of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the Federal Foreign Office of German Republic.
The book builds upon the presentations of the contributors during the comparative law conference which was organized by Prof. Dr. Stamatia Devetzi and Effrosyni Bakirtzi in Fulda in June 2022.
The book is available as an open access publication, and it can be downloaded from our website at Minimum Income in Old Age.
Edited Book
Stamatia Devetzi (ed.), Practical Issues of European social security law – A dialogue between academia and practitioners, Cinteus, vol. 22, ibidem, 2022, ISBN 978-383-821-706-2.
This edited volume is the research output of the second year of the collaboration and partnership between the University of Fulda (Prof. Dr. Stamatia Devetzi) and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Prof. Dr. Angelos Stergiou) with the financial support of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the Federal Foreign Office of German Republic.
The European social security law, i.e. the European regulations on the coordination of social security for migrant workers, has been evolving for over 60 years. This book is the result of a dialogue between academia and practitioners in Germany and Greece on practical issues regarding the implementation of the coordination regulations. On the one hand, it reviews the recent case law of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on the interpretation of EU social security law. On the other hand, the book provides accounts of how specific issues are resolved by and between national social security institutions. It explores the exchange of experiences of various administrative authorities, both within and outside the reflection of the ECJ’s existing case law. Furthermore, the discussion on transnational social security rights in the EU and on issues such as the posting of workers or platform work highlight the existing and future—practical—challenges in this field.
The book presents the contributions of the speakers of the virtual conference which was organized by the University of Fulda in June 2021.
Edited Book
Devetzi & A. Stergiou, Social security in times of corona: a legal comparison of selected European countries, Sakkoulas Publications, 2021, ISBN 978-960-648-344-8.
This edited volume is the research output of the first year of the successful academic collaboration and partnership between the University of Fulda (Prof. Dr. Stamatia Devetzi) and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Prof. Dr. Angelos Stergiou) with the financial support of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the Federal Foreign Office of German Republic.
The unprecedented health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic led to major socio-economic challenges and affected the lives of people worldwide. The emergency measures adopted by European countries aimed at the restriction of the spreading of the pandemic, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, they attempted to mitigate the massive disruptions of work and the ensuing economic recession. A group of persons was particularly affected by the consequences of the various restrictions that have been introduced by the national governments. This group includes migrant workers and other group of workers that are particularly vulnerable in terms of social protection coverage.
The book builds upon the presentations of the contributors during the online comparative law conference which was organized by the University of Fulda and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece in December 2020. National experts from selected European countries (Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Sweden) met digitally to discuss whether national laws have successfully addressed the problems caused by this extraordinary situation, exchange experiences and look beyond the national borders in terms of legal comparison and from a European Union perspective.
The book is available as an open access publication, and it can be downloaded from our website at Social Security in Times of Corona.
Contact
Prof. Dr. Stamatia Devetzi
Social Security Law
Director of the Master’s programme in Social Law and Social Economy
DAAD Project Leader
Social Security Coordination and Migration
Effrosyni Bakirtzi, LL.M. (Frankfurt), LL.M. (Thessaloniki)
DAAD Project Coordinator
Social Security Coordination and Migration
Fulda University of Applied Sciences
Building 22, Room 024
Leipziger Straße 123
36037 Fulda
Germany
Fulda University of Applied Sciences
Leipziger Straße 123
36037 Fulda
Germany
Email: effrosyni.bakirtzi(a)sk.hs-fulda.de
Events
Conference Minimum Income in Old Age – Comparative Aspects and European Law Questions
Venue: Fulda Transfer, Fulda (Germany)
Date: Friday 17th and Saturday 18th June 2022
European citizens who move within the European area after retirement (may) raise issues about their pension income security or pension adequacy. How does the “free movement of pensioners” relate with the Coordination Regulation (Reg. 883/04) on the one side and residence clauses in the Member States on the other side?
The legislation of many Member States provides supplementary pension benefits or minimum benefits to guarantee the minimum income of the elderly. Furthermore, Regulation 883/2004 on coordination of social security systems includes a series of provisions about the award of pension benefits, referring also to the “supplement” to which the moving pensioners may be entitled to their country of residence. The supplement at issue is equal to the difference between the total of pensions that the retiree receives from the Member States where he/she had previously lived, and the “minimum benefit” provided by the legislation of the country where the pensioner currently lives.
Also, the distinction between the pension as a social security benefit and the special non-contributory benefits aiming at the assurance of an adequate income for the elderly becomes relevant. Taking into account that the benefits of the old-age minimum income are usually made dependent on the criterion of residence, the concept of residence within European law is crucial as well. There has already been an extended discussion about the residence criterion under Regulation 883/004 and Directive 2004/38, as well as their interrelationship in the context of several social security cases before the Court of Justice of the EU. The recent trend in case law has sharpened the schism in the quality of protection in Dir. 2004/38 between non-economically active citizens and those who are economically active. The case of the elderly is rather a special one, though: In most cases, they have been economically active, and they are not anymore.
As the rights of the elderly are gaining importance, the minimum income in old-age could contribute to proactive social security measures preventing poverty during retirement. The rights of the elderly are protected by the Charter of the Fundamental Rights of the European Union (Article 25), according to which their rights of being independent and participating in social and cultural life are recognized. Principle 15 of the European Pillar of Social Rights underlines i.a. that “everyone in old age has the right to resources that ensure living in dignity”.
It could be said that EU social security law offers extensive social protection for the (moving) pensioners. The intention underlying the provisions of Coordination Regulation 883/2004 concerning pensions (and especially of article 58 of Reg. 883/2004) is to guarantee a minimum old-age benefit. However, firstly there have to be relevant provisions within the national laws awarding a “pension minimum benefit”, “minimum pension”, “old-age minimum guaranteed income” or “supplementary to the basic pension benefits. Secondly, it has to be cleared whether these benefits are “social security”, “social assistance” or “special non-contributory benefits”; this is important regarding a possible “export” of these benefits in other countries.
And: the differences both in standards of living and in the amounts of pensions between the Member States still vary significantly. Does the right to freedom of movement also apply to pensioners moving from one Member State to another, but not having “sufficient resources”? How are these “sufficient resources” to be defined? How is the situation of elderly persons who move to other Member States (very often to close relatives living there) but only have limited resources, to be addressed? When is a pension supplement dependent on legal residence – and what may a “legal residence test” look like? Does this test take into account the individual situation of elderly persons? Is there a (new) European discussion for solutions necessary?
The conference discussed a broad spectrum of questions arising from the minimum income in the old age debate.
Speakers’
Biographies & Presentations
Prof. Dr. Thomas Erhag
Thomas Erhag is a Professor of Public Law at the School of Business, Economics and Law at Gothenburg University (Sweden). His research focuses on the relationship between EU internal market law and national welfare law. He is also Chair of the Steering Group of the Centre for European Research at Gothenburg University (CERGU).
Prof. Dr. Frans Pennings
Prof. Frans Pennings is a Professor of Labour Law and Social Security Law at the Utrecht University School of Law. His research and teaching focus on labour law and social security law, with a special interest in international standards and European law. He has produced numerous publications on these topics. Pennings was one of the editors of the European Journal of Social Security. He obtained an honorary doctorate from Gothenburg University in 2014.
Prof. Dr. Elias Felten
Elias Felten is a Professor of Labour Law and Social Security at the Johannes Kepler University of Linz. He is a Member of the Editorial Board of the Scientific Journal “Das Recht der Arbeit”, of the Austrian Society of Labour Law and Social Security and the European Institute for Social Security. His fields of research reach from national collective labour law to European Social Security law. About the latter, he takes part in the MoveS-Network as the national expert of Austria. The MoveS-Network (former FreSsco and tress) is a network, financed by the European Commission, of independent experts, which deals with legal questions in the field of social security coordination and free movement of workers. He has published over 100 papers in journals, participated as an invited speaker at national and international conferences and carried out projects dealing with legal questions on European social security coordination.
Prof. Dr. Leszek Mitrus
Leszek Mitrus is a Professor at the Chair of Labour Law and Social Policy at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków (Poland). He is the national expert of the European Labour Law Network. From September 2016 to March 2018, Mitrus was a member of the Commission for Codification of Labour Law in Poland. He has authored around 120 publications on Polish, European and international labour law and social security law. Among these publications are books on the free movement of workers, EU directives on employment contracts and the impact of European labour law on the Polish legal system. He is also the co-author of commentaries on the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the Polish Labour Code.
Prof. Dr. Eufrasia Sena
Eufrasia Sena is an assistant professor at the University of Naples “Parthenope” since 2005. She teaches Labour Law and Social Security Law at the Department of Law. She is the author of several publications about labour law, trade unions law and social security law.
Prof. Dr. Maria Salas Porras
María Salas Porras, Doctor of Law, is a Full Professor at the Department of Labour Law and Social Security, University of Malaga, Spain, where she teaches graduate classes (Masters and PhD). Her research activity, which focuses primarily on migration, gender, public employment policies, social economy, European labour law and comparative labour law, has taken her to Brazil, Switzerland, Portugal, Malta, Italy, Bulgaria and Romania.
She is currently in charge of two major projects: “Decent Work-net” together with Prof. Francisco Lozano Lares, a network of international researchers exploring the ILO’s concept of decent work, its implementation and its regulation. The second project is a collaboration with a high-level research institute headed by Prof. Antonio Márquez Prieto and focuses on social policies, the judicial principle of fraternity and the theory of relational justice.
Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim Reinhard
Hans-Joachim Reinhard has been a Research Fellow at the Max-Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy. Since 2000 he is also Head of the Commission for the Admission of Medical Practitioners to the Public Health System in Bavaria, and since 2010 Professor for Social and Private Law at the University of Fulda. He had been awarded the Heinrich Lünendonck-Medaille and the Unterfränkischer Gedenkjahrpreis for his PhD thesis. He was also awarded the Medal of Honour of the Association of Lawyers in Latin America for his merits concerning the scientific exchange between Europe and Latin America on Social Security Law.
Dr. Anna Tsetoura
Anna Tsetoura, PhD, LLM KU Leuven, BA Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, is a member of the Hellenic Open University’s Associate Teaching Staff. She has lectured at various Greek universities as well as at the National School of Judges on topics including European social security law, social insurance and social institutions, retirement and pension systems, health care, civil society and social policy financing. She has also participated in national and European research programmes on improving social protection. Her research interests focus on the protection of social rights, the sustainability of social security systems, pensions and health, comparative social law, international and European social protection policies and social justice. She has participated in many national and international conferences and has published books and articles in Greek and international scientific journals. She has been a member of the Scientific Committee of the Journal of Social Security Law since 2019.
Prof. Dr. Stamatia Devetzi
Prof. Dr Stamatia Devetzi studied law in Athens, Rome and Osnabrück, has a diploma in law from the Law Faculty of the University of Athens (1994) and a PhD from Osnabrück University (1998). After working as a legal expert with the German Pensions Insurance Institution (1998-2003), in 2003 she became a professor of Social Security Law in Fulda. From 2011-2016 she was delegated as a professor for Public Law and European Social Security Law at Osnabrück University, Faculty of Law. She has been active in teaching and research in the fields of Social Security, European Law and Law Comparison for over 20 years. She is a member of the advisory board of FNA (Research Institute of the German Pensions Insurance) and FIS (Network for Interdisciplinary Research on Social Policy, funded by the German Ministry of Labour), and a member of the editorial board of the European Journal of Social Security.
Minimum income in old age- comparative remarks and some questions
Prof. Dr. Minou Banafsche
Minou Banafsche studied law and completed her PhD studies at the University of Regensburg. From 2007 to 2009 she performed her legal clerkship in the Superior Court District of Nürnberg and between 2010 and 2013 she worked as a research associate at the Max Planck Institute for Social Law and Social Policy in Munich. As of 2013, she held a junior professorship at the University of Kassel and in 2019 she became full professorship for Public Law, in particular, Social Law. From 2016 to 2019 she headed – together with Prof. Dr. Stamatia Devetzi – a doctoral program in the field of Social Human Rights at the Research Association for Social Law and Social Policy of the Universities of Kassel and Fulda.
Thursday, 11 November 2021 – at 19.00 (EET) • HYBRID EVENT
Guest Lecture at the Law Faculty, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece)
Title
Social security in times of corona – comparative aspects and new challenges in coordination law
Speaker
Prof. Dr. Stamatia Devetzi, University of Fulda (Germany)
Opening
Prof. Dr. Panayotis Glavinis, Dean of the Law Faculty, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece)
The lecture is part of the bilateral academic activities in the framework of the collaborative project “Social Security Coordination and Migration” between University of Fulda (Germany) & the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece).
The topic of the lecture touches upon the comparative legal aspects of the challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic posed on national social security systems. It focuses on the experiences of selected European countries (Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Sweden). Moreover, the implications for EU social security coordination law within this context will be highlighted.
Friday, 25 June 2021 · ONLINE WORKSHOP
Practical Questions arising from the implementation of Regulation 883/2004 on the Coordination of Social Security Systems
The Regulation 883/2004 on the Coordination of Social Security Systems is currently under revision. The main aspects concern long-term care, family benefits and posting of workers. However, there used to be and probably still exist various issues arising from the practical implementation of the Coordination Regulation. These issues go beyond the sections under revision. This statement becomes more evident by the observation of the everyday practice when the competent national social security institutions are handling claims and applications of persons moving within the EU concerning their social security rights.
On the one hand, there is recent case law of the Court of Justice of EU on the interpretation of the Regulation’s provisions with regard to a series of social security benefits, including issues of applicable legislation, equal treatment of national workers and migrant workers, the concept of ‘activity’. Indeed, many practical questions are answered through existing case-law. On the other hand, there are few reports as to how certain issues are resolved between the national social security institutions regardless of the cases which are brought to the Court of Justice of EU. Hence, it is crucial to examine the setting that unfolds when mobile persons’ requests are dependent upon the administration of social security institutions of different member states and their in-between cooperation.
The workshop will promote the exchange of experiences from different administrative bodies within and beyond the reflection of the existing case law of the CJEU on this matter.
Speakers’
Biographies & Presentations
Linda Bojanowski, LL.M.
Mrs Bojanowski has graduated with a Bachelor of Laws in Social Law from the University of Applied Sciences Fulda in 2017 and with a Master of Laws in Social Law and Social Economy from the University of Kassel/Hochschule Fulda in 2019. The research focus during her studies was on supranational and intergovernmental social (insurance) law. Since 2019, she is a lecturer for the module “European Social (Insurance) Law” at the University of Applied Sciences Fulda as well as a consultant at the GKV-Spitzenverband, DVKA for the area of coordination and agreement law. Current focal points of her work include the coordination of benefits in the case of need for long-term care, Brexit, and European political events.
Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Eberhard Eichenhofer
Eberhard Eichenhofer has studied law in Tübingen and Saarbrucken. He has completed both State Exams in Saarbrucken and has worked as a research assistant at the University of Saarland gaining his doctorate title at the same University (Managerial Employees as a Concept of Corporate Law). Prof. Eichenhofer has also worked as a research assistant at the Federal Social Court and the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Social Law in Munich. His habilitation was submitted to the University of Saarland with the authorization to teach Civil Law, Private International Law, German and International Labour and Social Law. Since 1989 he was Professor of Civil Law and Social Law at the Universities of Osnabrück (until 1997) and Friedrich Schiller University of Jena. Prof. Eichenhofer was reviewer for the 64th German Jurists’ Conference on the Relationship between Social Law and Social Policy and for the German Jurists’ Conference on the relationship between social benefits and family. In 2003, he received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Gothenburg and since 2012 he is Corresponding Member of the Wissenschaftliche Akademie zu Göttingen.
Dr. Daniel Hlava
Since 2014, Dr. Daniel Hlava, LL.M. has been a researcher for social law and European labour law at the Hugo Sinzheimer Institute for Labour and Social Security Law (HSI) of the Hans Böckler Foundation in Frankfurt am Main. He was previously employed at the University of Kassel. He studied social law at the University of Applied Sciences Fulda and the University of Kassel. He completed his doctorate on a topic of disability equality law. He is co-editor of the HSI Report on European Labour and Social Security Law.
Moira Kettner
Mrs Kettner is currently the Head of the Division “Coordination of Social Security Systems” at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs in Berlin and standing member of the Administrative Commission for the Coordination of Social Security Systems. Previously, she chaired the Administrative Commission for the Coordination of Social Security Systems, she was a deputy member of the Administrative Commission for the Coordination of Social Security Systems and deputy Head of the Division “Coordination of Social Security Systems” at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs in Berlin. Mrs Kettner was also labour attaché at the German Embassy in Ankara (Turkey) and desk officer for “Basic Issues for Persons with Disabilities” at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. She has also worked as a research assistant at the Centre for European Integration Studies in Bonn and at the Coordination of the German-Polish School of Law at the Humboldt-University in Berlin.Mrs Kettner has studied law at the Universities of Passau, Cracow and Bonn, has completed her first State Exams in Cologne and the second one in Berlin.
Anna Rizou
Mrs Anna Rizou has studied law at the National Kapodistrian University of Athens in Greece. During the past 27 years she has been working in all areas of social security at the Greek Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs with focus on the implementation of European legislation coordinating the social security systems of the Member States and the negotiation and implementation of bilateral social security Agreements with third countries, outside the EU. She is currently the Chief Director of the Special Insurance Issues and Benefits Departments of the aforementioned Ministry. Mrs Rizou has extensive knowledge of the national and international environment in the field of social security. She represents Greece in the regular meetings of the Administrative Committee for the coordination of social security systems and the Advisory committee for the social security of migrant workers. She has participated in numerous Meetings, Working Groups, Seminars, Conferences, and bilateral discussions on similar topics.
Dr. Anna Tsetoura
Anna Tsetoura, PhD, LLM KU Leuven, BA Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, is a member of the Hellenic Open University’s Associate Teaching Staff. She has lectured at various Greek universities as well as at the National School of Judges on topics including European social security law, social insurance and social institutions, retirement and pension systems, health care, civil society and social policy financing. She has also participated in national and European research programmes on improving social protection.
Her research interests focus on the protection of social rights, the sustainability of social security systems, pensions and health, comparative social law, international and European social protection policies and social justice. She has participated in many national and international conferences and has published books and articles in Greek and in international scientific journals. She has been a member of the Scientific Committee of the Journal of Social Security Law since 2019.
Friday, 4 December 2020 · ONLINE CONGRESS
Social security in times of corona from a comparative law perspective
Over the past months, governments around the world have taken substantial steps to mitigate the economic and social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The current legal discussion raises one major question: Does national law successfully address the problems caused by this extraordinary situation? The conference aims to review both existing and new special regulations introduced in the field of social security law from a comparative law perspective in selected European countries. The legal assessment and analysis of responses of the different national social security systems to the same challenges as well as of the changes in social security protection schemes reveal both common trends and different approaches, which can contribute to the formulation of effective policies and initiatives in the long term.
One focus of our legal comparison are migrant/mobile workers and other vulnerable groups of workers. Social security law generally applies to all insured persons. But are workers in non-standard employment relationships and those in precarious working conditions covered as well? The pandemic has exerted a heavy toll on migrant workers and other groups of workers who are particularly vulnerable in terms of social protection coverage.
The conference will address the legal challenges of social protection for such workers in selected European countries and provide insights into future perspectives within the context of the European Union.
CV
Speakers
Prof. Dr. Edoardo Ales
Edoardo Ales graduated in Political Sciences at LUISS (1990) and in Law at Sapienza Università di Roma (1997). He has been guest researcher at MaxPlank-Institute for International and Comparative Social Law and Policies (Munich 1996 – 1997), researcher in Labour Law and Social Security at the University of Rom “Tor Vergata” (1996-1999), Associate Professor (2000-2002) and then Full Professor (2002-2018) of Labour Law and Social Security at the University of Cassino and Southern Lazio. In 2018 he moved to the Department of Law of the University of Naples “Parthenope” where he teaches Labour Law and Industrial Relations. He is invited professor of International and Comparative Labour Law at the Pontifical Lateran University (Vatican State). He is Member of the Board of Directors of the Giornale del Diritto del Lavoro e delle Relazioni Industriali, Rivista del Diritto della Sicurezza Sociale, Italian Labour Law e-Journal, Diritti Lavori Mercati. He is Member of the Scientific Committee of the Marco Biagi Foundation of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (Italy), where he is the Director of the Multilocal Work Observatory. He is the National Expert for Italy in the ICF-ECE and MoveS Network supporting the EU Commission in the field of Labour Law and Free Movement of Workers.
Effrosyni Bakirtzi, LL.M., Μ.Δ.Ε.
Effrosyni Bakirtzi is Coordinator of the university partnership project “Social Security Coordination and Migration”, Adjunct Lecturer at the University of Applied Sciences Fulda and doctoral research fellow of the interdisciplinary Joint Graduate Research School on Social Human Rights. She has worked as a legal researcher at the Department of Labour Law of the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt in Germany and at the K.U. Leuven (Catholic University of Leuven) in Belgium.
Mrs. Bakirtzi is a qualified attorney at law in Greece, having graduated from the Law School of the Faculty of Law, Economic and Political Sciences of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece, with a postgraduate title of studies in international and European law from the same university and a second LL.M. course of studies at the University of Johann Wolfgang Goethe in Frankfurt/Main, Germany.
Her main research interests are international, European and comparative social security and labour law, EU internal market issues, international economic law, international private law, migration law and human rights law.
Prof. Dr. Stamatia Devetzi
Prof. Dr. Stamatia Devetzi studied law in Athens, Rome and Osnabrück, has a diploma in law from the Law Faculty of University of Athens (1994) and a PhD from Osnabrück University (1998). After working as a legal expert with the German Pensions Insurance Institution (1998-2003), in 2003 she became professor of Social Security Law in Fulda. From 2011-2016 she was delegated as professor for Public Law and European Social Security Law at Osnabrück University, Faculty of Law. She has been active in teaching and research in the fields of Social Security, European Law and Law Comparison for over 20 years. She is member of the advisory board of FNA (Research Institute of the German Pensions Insurance) and of FIS (Network for Interdisciplinary Research on Social Policy, funded by the German Ministry of Labour), and member of the editorial board of the European Journal of Social Security.
Prof. Dr. Thomas Erhag
Prof. Dr. Éva Lukács
Prof. Dr. Leszek Mitrus
Leszek Mitrus is Professor at the Chair of Labour Law and Social Policy at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków (Poland). He is the national expert of the European Labour Law Network. From September 2016 to March 2018, Mitrus was a member of the Commission for Codification of Labour Law in Poland. He has authored around 120 publications on Polish, European and international labour law and social security law. Among these publications are books on the free movement of workers, EU directives on employment contracts and the impact of European labour law on the Polish legal system. He is also the co-author of commentaries on the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the Polish Labour Code.
Prof. Dr. Maria Salas Porras
María Salas Porras, Doctor of Law, is Full Professor at the Department of Labour Law and Social Security, University of Malaga, Spain, where she teaches graduate classes (Masters and PhD). Her research activity, which focuses primarily on migration, gender, public employment policies, social economy, European labour law and comparative labour law, has taken her to Brazil, Switzerland, Portugal, Malta, Italy, Bulgaria and Romania.
She is currently in charge of two major projects: “Decent Work-net” together with Prof. Francisco Lozano Lares, , a network of international researchers exploring the ILO’s concept of decent work, its implementation and its regulation. The second project is a collaboration with a high level research institute headed by Prof. Antonio Márquez Prieto, and focuses on social policies, the judicial principle of fraternity and the theory of relational justice.
Prof. Dr. Frans Pennings
Prof. Frans Pennings is Professor of Labour Law and Social Security Law at the Utrecht University School of Law. His research and teaching focuses on labour law and social security law, with a special interest in international standards and European law. He has produced numerous publications on these topics. Pennings was one of the editors of the European Journal of Social Security. He obtained an honorary doctorate from the Gothenburg University in 2014.
Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim Reinhard
Hans-Joachim Reinhard has been a Research Fellow at the Max-Planck Institute for for Social Law and Social Policy. Since 2000 he is also Head of the Commission for the Admission of Medical Practitioners to the Public Health System in Bavaria, and since 2010 Professor for Social and Private Law at the University of Fulda. He had been awarded the Heinrich Lünendonck-Medaille and the Unterfränkischer Gedenkjahrpreis for his Ph.D. thesis. He was also awarded the Medal of Honour of the Association of Lawyers in Latin America for his merits concerning the scientific exchange between Europe and Latin America on Social Security Law.
Prof. Dr. Cristina Sánchez-Rodas Navarro
Cristina Sánchez-Rodas Navarro is Professor at the Department of Labour and Social Security Law of the University of Sevilla (Spain). She has produced over 100 publications in several languages (https://investigacion.us.es/sisius/sis_showpub.php?idpers=2652).
Her main research focus is labour law, social security law and the coordination of social security systems. She has participated in several projects, including Buenas Prácticas Jurídico-Procesales en Derecho Laboral y Comunitario para Reducir el Gasto Social con Coste Cero (DER2012-32111); Organising training and setting up networks on the European co-ordination of social security systems (VC/2007/0188), Inmigrantes ilegales en la Unión Europea (SEJ2007-60684), Social protection in Europe: Convergence, integration, accession and the free movement of labour (SPECIAL) (HPSE-CT-2001-50004), Social security, supplementary pensions and new patterns of work and mobility (2010), Flagship initiative. Innovation Union, SEC(2010) 1161, Brussels,6.10.2010 COM(2010) 546 final. She is Vice-President of the Asociación Española de Salud y Seguridad Social and President of the Asociación de Mujeres Laboralistas de Andalucía
Ass. Prof. Dr. Ioannis Skandalis
Ioannis Skandalis completed his undergraduate studies at the Law School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and his graduate and doctoral studies at the above University, as well as the Law School of the University of Oxford. He has been awarded with the following titles: Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) in Law (2013), Postgraduate Research Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in Law (2009), Postgraduate degree Magister Juris (MJur) (2008) by the Faculty of Law of the University of Oxford, as well as the Postgraduate degree (L.LM) Labour Law (with distinction) (2007) and the undergraduate Degree in law (with distinction) (2006) by the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.
He is currently Assistant Professor of Labour Law at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and teaches the following undergraduate courses: Individual Labour Law, Collective Labour Law, Exploitation Law, Seminar on Labour Law, Erasmus (Individual and Collective Labour Law) in English. He also participates to the teaching of two postgraduate courses: The dynamic of the sources of labour law and special types of labour law contracts.
His current research focus embraces the following issues: “The evolution of the notion of «subordination» in modern labour law”, “The adoption of effective mechanisms so as to safeguard the respect of working time in digital labour market”, as well as “the evaluation of the role of social clauses in transnational commercial agreements so as to safeguard the adherence to basic labour standards within global economy”.
He is the author of two monographs: «Working Time: Its delimitation to contemporary Labour Law» (P.N. Sakkoulas, Athens 2017) (in Greek). «Balancing Employer and Employee Interests: Legitimate Expectations and Proportionality under the Acquired Rights Directive» (P.N. Sakkoulas, Athens 2016).
He has also written a number of articles and contributions to collective titles, the most recent of which are the following: «Labour Law Measures Adopted in Response to COVID-19 in Greece» in E. Hondius, M. Santos Silva, A. Nicolussi, P. Salvador Coderch, C. Wendehorst and F. Zoll (eds.), Coronavirus and the Law in Europe, (Intersentia, Cambridge 2020, under publication) “Part-time work: Critical approach regarding the changes adopted through law 4635/2019”, Labor Law Bulletin 2020, p. 26-49, “La libertà sindacale in Grecia” in La libertà sindacale nel mondo: nuovi profili e vecchi problemi. In memoria di Giulio Regeni di A. Baylos Grau, L. Zoppoli (a cura di), p. 307 – 325 (written in English and translated in Italian by Giuseppe Lanzo, avvocato in Catanzaro). «Analysis of the case-law of the Court of Justice on “outsourcing”: By reference to the case C-60/17 (Somoza Hermo)», Business & Company Law 2019, p. 312 et seq.
Prof. Dr. Angelos Stergiou
Angelos Stergiou studied law at the University of Thessaloniki (Greece) and social law at the “Université Paris I, Panthéon, Sorbonne” (France), where he gained his Ph.D. cum laude (1985). Since 1982 he has been working as barrister at law in Thessaloniki, and since 1990 has been Professor of Social Law at the Faculty of Law at the University of Thessaloniki. He currently collaborates with the Toulouse University (France) and the Fulda University of Applied Sciences (Germany). He has published extensively on social law issues.
Dr. Anna Tsetoura
Anna Tsetoura, PhD, LLM KU Leuven, BA Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, is a member of the Hellenic Open University’s Associate Teaching Staff. She has lectured at various Greek universities as well as at the National School of Judges on topics including European social security law, social insurance and social institutions, retirement and pension systems, health care, civil society and social policy financing. She has also participated in national and European research programmes on improving social protection.
Her research interests focus on the protection of social rights, the sustainability of social security systems, pensions and health, comparative social law, international and European social protection policies and social justice. She has participated in many national and international conferences and has published books and articles in Greek and in international scientific journals. She has been a member of the Scientific Committee of the Journal of Social Security Law since 2019.
Prof. Dr. Anne Walter
Since 2017, Anne Walter is Professor of Migration and Social Law at the Department of Social and Cultural Sciences at Fulda University of Applied Sciences. Her research focuses on European and international law. Her doctoral thesis concerned the law of family reunification in international law, EU law and national law.