Johan Meeusen (LL.M. University of California at Berkeley, 1993; Ph.D. University of Antwerp, 1997) is a full professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Antwerp, where he teaches European Union Law and Private International Law. Johan has lectured extensively at universities worldwide and has been appointed as a guest professor at universities in China, Estonia, France, South-Africa, and the United States. In 2011, he lectured at the Hague Academy of International Law and in 2015 at the International Law Winter Program Lecture Series, CEDIN, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Johan has served in many academic management positions, inter alia as Vice-Rector of the University of Antwerp (2008-2016), Dean of its Faculty of Law (2006-2008), and Director of its Research Group on Government and Law (2017-2020).
He has published numerous articles and books - in Dutch, English, French, and Italian - on issues of EU Law and (EU) private international law. Apart from many national and international peer reviewed academic publications, he is the author of a well-known general handbook on EU law (De Baere and Meeusen, Grondbeginselen van het recht van de Europese Unie, 2020) and two books on the case law of the CJEU (now in its 4th edition) and the Union’s Treaty and legislative sources (resp. Recht van de Europese Unie – Basisjurisprudentie and Recht van de Europese Unie – Bronnen, 2020). He has also authored op-eds in Belgian newspapers and law journals.
Since 2020, Johan serves as the general editor of the only Belgian-Dutch academic, peer reviewed journal on EU law: SEW, Tijdschrift voor Europees en Economisch Recht. He is a member of several other editorial or scientific boards, with a particular focus on EU law and private international law, as well.
Johan is a co-founder of the European Association of Private International Law (EAPIL) and a member of its Scientific Council (2019-2024). Since 2010, he is, upon invitation, a Member of the European Group for Private International Law (GEDIP) and an Associate Member of the International Academy of Comparative Law. He is also a member of the Belgian Group for Private International Law, entrusted by successive Belgian Ministers of Justice with the preparation of the 2004 Belgian Private International Law Code.
Johan has directed many research projects (including nationally and EU funded projects) and has been the director of several doctoral theses on various aspects of judicial cooperation in the European Union and EU law. Since 2019, he has been a co-organiser of the EU funded, yearly international PAX Moot Court competitions. In 2002, the European Commission granted him an ad personam Jean Monnet Chair.
Areas of Expertise:
- Law of the European Union
- Private International Law
- EU Private International Law
Selected Publications:
- Meeusen, J. (2022) Cross-border mobility of European Union citizens and continuity of civil status. Balancing national and individual identities in an open European society.
- Meeusen, J. (2020) The Brussels Ibis Regulation and the prohibition of discrimination under EU primary law.
- Meeusen, J. (2019) Comparing interstate and European conflict of laws from a constitutional perspective: can the United States inspire the European Union?
Full Publication List: repository.uantwerpen.be/acadbib/irua/02410/N
Selected Projects:
- 2022 - 2026 - Continuity of civil status for mobile citizens in a diverse European Union: how to ensure through EU law a right balance between freedom of movement, fundamental rights and respect for the competences and national identities of the Member States?
- 2022 - 2024 - Private International Law in Motion 2.0 (PAX 2.0) (https://www.paxmoot.eu/).
- 2021 - 2023 - A choice of law rule for the proprietary aspects of B2B transactions as a step further in the EU harmonisation process.