Expert gathering in Florence to rethink enforcement of EU digital law through the lens of the rule of law
As Europe’s digital regulatory landscape continues to expand, scholars from across Europe and beyond gathered in Florence for a two-day Expert Roundtable on 'Rule-of-Law-Centered Enforcement of the EU Digital Acquis' — an event designed not around lectures or PowerPoints, but around the core academic values of open exchange, confrontation, and mutual learning.
Convened by Simona Demkova from the Europa Institute and Giovanni De Gregorio (Católica Global School of Law), the event was funded by the Leiden University Starting Grant as part of Simona’s research project EU’s Human-Centered Digital Transformation, and forms the first in a planned series of collaborative academic initiatives aimed at developing a more coherent, principled, and effective enforcement ecosystem for EU digital acquis.
The roundtable took place on 14 and 15 April 2025 and brought together over 20 leading scholars across fields including EU administrative and constitutional law, enforcement law, regulatory theory, and digital regulation.
Speakers included renowned scholars coming from different corners of Europe, namely Herwig Hofmann (University of Luxembourg), Hans-W. Micklitz, Elda Brogi and Natalia Menéndez González (EUI), Giovanni Sartor (EUI/Bologna), Paul De Hert (VUB Brussels), Mira Scholten, Lisette Mustert, and Catalina Goanta (Utrecht University), Amnon Reichman (University of Haifa), Maria Magierska (Maastricht University), Erik Longo and Andrea Simoncini (University of Florence), Giulia Gentile (Essex Law School), Filipe Brito Bastos (Nova School of Law of Lisbon), Hannah Ruschemeier (FernUniversität in Hagen), Marta Cantero Gamito (EUI/University of Tartu in Estonia), Lena Enqvist (Umeå University in Sweden), Pawel Hajduk (University of Warsaw), Alba Ribera Martinez (Villanueva University in Spain), Anna Vicinanza (Bologna University) alongside Europa Institute’s own Melanie Fink, and beyond.
The event tackled some of the hardest questions currently facing EU digital governance:
- Can the EU develop a more integrated enforcement culture across fragmented regulatory regimes?
- What is the proper institutional balance between centralisation and decentralisation of enforcement powers?
- How can technological innovations like co-regulation, standardisation, or experimental regulation align with EU rule of law principles?
It was structured into five interactive panels starting with:
- Sectoral enforcement challenges in GDPR, DSA, DMA, cybersecurity, and AI regulation;
- Constitutional and institutional limits to EU-level enforcement;
- Practical and political developments affecting the implementation of digital laws;
- And forward-looking discussions on regulatory innovation and collaborative research outputs.
Next Steps
As a result of the rich and critical conversations in Florence, several follow-up actions are already in motion and will roll out in the coming months. If you are particularly interested in joining this initiative, please do get in touch at: s.demkova@law.leidenuniv.nl.
