We participated in a conference focussing on recent developments of abusive proceedings against public participation. The conference was a wrap up finalising the legal clinic on Anti-SLAPPs developed within the LLB program in European and International Legal Studies (L2) at the Catholic University of Lille (France), under the supervision of ass. prof. Silvia Bartolini.
At this conference on 14 November 2025 (exactly one year after the second European anti-SLAPP conference in Strasbourg) academics, legal experts, and practitioners analysed the rising use of SLAPPs and how EU member states are (not) responding to the phenomenon.
Speakers also included Pia Lindholm (Deputy Head of Unit DG JUST/ European Commission), Prof. Justin Borg-Barthet (University of Aberdeen), dr. Flutura Kusari (Senior Legal Advisor, European Centre for Press and Media Freedom), Giulia Melotti (Unesco), Paulina Milewska (Researcher, European University Institute), and Leto Cariolou (Human Rights Lawyer).
The discussion focused on the EU’s Anti-SLAPP Directive 2024/1069 and the steps still needed to ensure stronger protection for public participation and freedom of expression in the EU Member States and the Council of Europe.