The Court of Justice of the EU has for a long time remained off the radar of actors pursuing strategic litigation. Over the past decade, however, the Court of Justice adjudicated more regularly on politically salient and socially divisive issues. But who are the actors pursuing strategic litigation before the Court of Justice? What are the agendas that they pursue? And what exactly are the effects, both the immediate legal and the broader socio-political consequences, of litigating before the Court of Justice? Assessing the actors, the particular features that shape strategic litigation, and its effects requires taking a close look at the specific legal areas of EU law in which strategic litigation occurs, such as climate change, data protection, and migration law. At the same time, it is important to adopt a bird’s eye perspective in order to assess how strategic litigation in EU law might be evolving.

The purpose of this workshop is to bring together scholars and practitioners engaged in strategic litigation to discuss the particular dynamics of strategic litigation in EU law. The special issue of the German Law Journal (2024, 25(6)) on ‘Strategic Litigation in EU Law’ serves as a basis for the discussion, which is aimed at identifying avenues for future research.

In order to facilitate collaborative discussion, the format of the workshop consists of four different roundtables – a general roundtable on the dynamics of strategic litigation in EU law and three roundtables focused on particular EU policy domains – climate change, data governance and human mobility.