The re:constiution Alumni Network Summer University 2026 has officially begun in Budapest! 🇭🇺 Over the next days, our Alumni community will come together to rethink constitutionalism in light of the profound challenges facing constitutional democracies across Europe.

Fellowship Year 2025/26 🌍 As another inspiring Fellowship year comes to an end, we want to celebrate and thank an incredible cohort of Fellows who have spent the past 10 months learning, exchanging ideas and building lasting connections across Europe. 💙

🌟Reading Tip🌟 If you are working on or fascinated by the topic of visas as a tool of international mobility, the recently published edited volume "Visas in Migration and Asylum Law. The Key that Opens the Door" is one to add to your reading list. www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-edi...

Visas in Migration and Asylum Law | The Key that Opens the Door | Fran

This book explores and discusses the different perspectives stemming from the visa as a tool of international mobility. A visa has a multifaced nature. It is a

taylorfrancis.com

Our Fellow Mária Žuffová will spend the last part of her mobility phase at the Institute for Democracy in Slovakia to advance her project “Hostile Politics’ Effect: How Politicians’ Attacks Against Media Shape Public Trust and Democracy.”

A great week at ICON•S Annual Conference! Proud to see re:constitution Fellows & Alumni presenting their research on the panel "The Rule of Law, Democracy and Shifting Constitutional Dynamics in Europe": Jacquelyn Veraldi, Olha Nykorak & Benedetta Lobina, with Cecilia Rizcallah as discussant.

Patrick Leisure will spend the next stage of his mobility at the European Court of Human Rights @echr.coe.int in Strasbourg, where he will continue his work on the project “Schools and Positive Obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights: What Implications for Democracy in Europe?”

🌟Reading Tip🌟 Hungary's 2026 election made history. But a democratic outcome does not erase structural democratic deficits Read our Alumnus Stefan Szwed's blog post on the panel discussion "Participation & Representation," at our collaborative event at ELTE University 👉 trafo.hypotheses.org/66302

The Limits of Representation: Three Dimensions of Constrained Choice in Hungary’s 2026 Election

By Stefan Szwed. Hungary’s parliamentary elections on 12 April 2026 were, by most metrics, historic. With turnout approaching 80 percent — the highest in the post-1989 era — the centre-right oppositio...

trafo.hypotheses.org

Advisory Board Announcement Our Advisory Board is an invaluable source of expertise and strategic guidance. We are deeply grateful for the time, commitment and thoughtful engagement our members bring to re:constitution and to our mission of strengthening the rule of law and democracy across Europe.

🌟Reading Tip🌟 When does EU equality law see discrimination? Our fellow Meret Plucis argues that the CJEU's Valeurs de l'Union ruling encodes a visibility test, tying protection to harms the majority already recognizes. Read the article here: verfassungsblog.de/a-hierarchy-...

A Hierarchy of Harms

verfassungsblog.de

🇪🇸 Reminder: Workshop in spanish In two days, our alumnae Colleen Boland and Cristina Blasi Casagran will host a hybrid workshop at UAB Barcelona @uab.cat on AI and democratic societies in Europe. 🗓 26 June 2026 | 📍 Barcelona + online More info & registration: www.reconstitution.eu/en/news/news...

AI and Democracy in Europe: Risks, Power, and Constitutional Futures

A hybrid event organised by two re:constitution alumnae as part of the Incubator Fund 2026.

reconstitution.eu

Looking back on three days in Athens 🏛️: Our 3rd Fellows' Exchange Meeting brought together rule of law, democracy, media freedom, migration, LAI, and took the conversation into public debate with Transparency International. Thank you to our host partner at UNIC Athens and all who joined. 🙏

Two re:constitution alumnae, Colleen Boland and Cristina Blasi Casagran convene a hybrid workshop on AI and democratic governance in Europe on 26 June at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and online. 👉More information and registration: www.reconstitution.eu/en/news/news...

AI and Democracy in Europe: Risks, Power, and Constitutional Futures

A hybrid event organised by two re:constitution alumnae as part of the Incubator Fund 2026.

reconstitution.eu

In the latest #RuleOfLaw reflection on our #TRAFOBlog, our alumnus Matteo Bonelli argues that the EU is experiencing a “democratic turn”. Read the article here: trafo.hypotheses.org/65745

The European Union’s Democratic Turn

By Matteo Bonelli. The “constitutional backsliding” crisis in the European Union started almost fifteen years ago. Since then, EU institutions have sought to address and reverse backsliding processes ...

trafo.hypotheses.org

Today was the last day of our 3rd Fellows' Exchange Meeting at the University of Nicosia in Athens & our alumni arrived in the city for their meeting. After an Advocacy Training for the Fellows, the groups met for a joint session, followed by a talk by Michael Wilkinson (LSE) on political economy.

Γεια σας from Athens! 🇬🇷✨ Today started our third Fellows' Exchange meeting in Athens, co-organised with the UNIC Athens. After a warm welcome, we explored a timely and important topic: freedom of expression as a cornerstone and challenge of democracy. More to come over the next days. Stay tuned!

⏳ Just one more day to go until our Fellows' Exchange Meeting "Democracy Beyond Symbolism" in Athens 🇬🇷🇪🇺 We are delighted to organise this exchange together with our partner, the UNIC Athens, and look forward to meaningful conversations in Athens. ✨

🇬🇷🇪🇺 One week to go! Together with journalists, civil society leaders, scholars and policymakers, we’ll explore the challenges shaping Europe’s democratic future. 📍 Impact Hub Athens 📅 10.06.2026 / 7:30pm In collaboration with Transparency International Greece & hosted by Impact Hub Athens!

Our Fellow Łukasz Szoszkiewicz will undertake his second mobility phase with HURIDOCS, this time based at their Geneva office. During this stay, he will continue developing his open-source computational toolkit for the analysis of UN treaty body recommendations addressed to EU Member States.

5 questions in 10 minutes: Get to know our current Fellow Dukagjin Abdyli through his 5in10 interview on #TRAFOBlog - "Constitutional law is ultimately about people’s lived experiences" 👉 trafo.hypotheses.org/65714

🇬🇷 From Athens to Brussels: Assessing the Rule of Law in Europe 🇪🇺 Join us for a timely panel discussion bringing together journalists, civil society leaders, scholars and policymakers to unpack the growing challenges facing rule of law across Europe. @anticorruption.bsky.social

Can the GDPR be used as a weapon against investigative journalists? A new #RuleOfLaw reflection on our #TRAFOBlog - a condensed and updated version of the re:constitution working paper "Data Protection Weaponised" by our Alumnus Tivadar Hüttl - explores exactly that. 👉 trafo.hypotheses.org/65398

Data protection weaponised

By Tivadar Hüttl. This article explores the intricate relationship between data protection regulations and press freedom in Europe, with a particular emphasis on the misuse of data protection laws to ...

trafo.hypotheses.org

Thank you once again to everyone who submitted applications to the re:constitution Fellowship 2026/27 CfA. We sincerely appreciate the strong & diverse range of proposals, the effort, creativity and ideas! The review process is now finalized, and responses have been communicated to all applicants.

Our fellow Giulia Marini will spend her mobility phase at the Office of the UN Special Rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human rights in Geneva, working under the mandate of Ben Saul. 👉Find Giulia's Fellow Profile here: www.reconstitution.eu/en/fellows/d...

Can judges stay silent when democracy is at stake? 🏛️ Together with Oxford Global Society, Alumna Katarina Šipulová brought together judges and scholars to debate how judges should resist political pressure in an online roundtable. Watch the full debate 👉 www.reconstitution.eu/news/news-de...

The twilight of resilience? Reflections on the limits of judicial activism in the face of democratic decline

Book chapter by Alumna Katarina Šipulová now freely accessible.

reconstitution.eu

Peter Magyar officially took office last Friday – and the scenes outside parliament were something else. Here's a look back at what we put out around the Hungarian elections 🧵

📚 New publication Our alumna Katarína Šipulová explores the limits of judicial activism under political pressure in Dissensus over Liberal Democracy asking how courts can defend democracy without undermining their own legitimacy. 👉 www.reconstitution.eu/news/news-de...

The twilight of resilience? Reflections on the limits of judicial activism in the face of democratic decline

Book chapter by Alumna Katarina Šipulová now freely accessible.

reconstitution.eu

Patrick Leisure will spend his mobility phase at the DCU Anti-Bullying Centre working on his project “Schools and Positive Obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights: What Implications for Democracy in Europe?” Find Patrick's Fellow Profile here: www.reconstitution.eu/fellows/deta...

Join the online roundtable with our alumna Katarína Šipulová: “Courts Under Scrutiny: Judges and Democracy” 📅 7 May 2026 ⏰ 1:00–2:00 pm (GMT+1) 💻 Online (Zoom) 👉 Register here: us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

5 questions in 10 minutes: Get to know our current Fellow Jacquelyn Veraldi through her 5in10 interview on #TRAFOBlog - "The Life of an Academic Does Not Have to be Confined to Sitting Behind a Desk” 👉 trafo.hypotheses.org/65307

The Life of an Academic Does Not Have to be Confined to Sitting Behind a Desk ‒ 5in10 with Jacquelyn Veraldi

Jacquelyn Veraldi is a Junior Research Fellow at the Central European University Democracy Institute (Budapest). Her research interests include EU constitutional, in particular the values of democracy...

trafo.hypotheses.org

Hungary 2026: Elections, Institutions, Participation: Revisit the highlights with our photo selection and the full closing panel on YouTube! www.reconstitution.eu/en/events/ca...

Hungary 2026: Elections, Institutions, Participation

Collaborative workshop with ELTE Centre for Social Sciences (CSS/TK) and re:constitution network in Budapest

reconstitution.eu