European Union: Koen Lenaerts reappointed president of the Court for Justice for another three years

Koen Lenaerts has been reappointed president of the European Court of Justice for another three years. Born in Belgium in 1954, Lenaerts attended the Catholic University in Louvain, then he got a master’s degree from Harvard. At Louvain university, Lenaerts went back as an assistant lecturer (1979-1983), then as a professor of European law. He was a legal secretary of the European Court, then a judge, then deputy president (2012- 2015) and, since October 8^th 2015, president for a three-year term, now extended to 2021. The Court is responsible for making sure the EU law is construed and enforced in the same way in every EU member state, and that the EU member states and institutions abide by EU regulations. Headquartered in Luxembourg, it includes a judge per EU member states, plus 11 general lawyers. Lenaerts was reappointed during the solemn hearing of the Court of Justice for the renewal and inauguration of six new members. “Every six years, a new balance forms between the experience” of the members who are ending their term and “the fresh wind instilled by the appointment of new members”, president Lenaerts said in his address for the solemn hearing: “This balance is the recipe for a consistent development of our law and a factor in its endless revival”.