In this edition, we delve into the research of Aurélie Villanueva, a French alumna who defended her thesis titled Culture in European Union Law: Between Market and Society, under the supervision of Professor Hans-Wolfgang Micklitz.
Aurélie came to the EUI with an impressive academic background that includes a Bachelor in Law from the University of Strasbourg, an LLM in European Law from the University of Leiden, and an LLM in European competition law and regulation from the University of Amsterdam. In her dissertation, she explores how the EU considers culture when crafting its laws. Rather than just focusing on tangible commodities within the EU's internal market, Aurélie questions the depth of the EU's engagement with culture, pondering whether its outreach extends beyond pure market dynamics and into the societal sphere.
Aurélie has always been fascinated by the invisible impact of the EU legal order - the moral climate, the values, ideas, and traditions it creates. The main challenge of her dissertation has been to define the central concept of the study: culture. Especially beyond tangible goods and services like books, DVDs, or audiovisual services. There are a manifold ways to define culture, anthropology, sociology, and cultural studies provide useful insights, but there is no consensus on a universal definition of culture, that is also true in law. This is in fact one of the conclusions of the dissertation: EU law relies on different concepts of culture rather than one single concept.
The research makes a significant contribution as to the legal definition of culture in European Union law and brings a significant contribution to trying to connect law, culture, and society. The dissertation is an effort to contribute to an emerging discussion, reconnecting EU law with society and to elaborate a new conceptual language where law, culture, and society are no longer detached in the course of European integration. She emphasises the need for policymakers to be acutely aware of the cultural repercussions of their legislative decisions, particularly with monumental pieces of legislation, such as those governing the digital domain.
During her time at the EUI, Aurélie co-founded the EUI's 'Thoughts for Europe' initiative, now known as Ponte Europa. With the motto of 'bridging academia and civil society', this initiative was born from her desire to bring research down from the scholarly confines of the EUI to the very heart of Florence and its citizens. Aurélie has also been a CIVICA outreach coordinator at the EUI, sharing the valuable experience of the EUI outreach activities to the CIVICA partner institutions and contributing to the design of the outreach strategy of the university alliance. For Aurélie, the EUI wasn't just an academic sanctuary but a vibrant community fostering rich dialogues. Her fondest memories are not confined to scholarly discussions but extend to informal exchanges on the terraces of the Badia Fiesolana or Villa Salviati. And when she wasn't immersed in research, you would find her unwinding with her favourite yoga class at the EUI.
Aurélie is currently an Assistant Professor in European Union law at the University of Groningen where she will teach EU law topics and continue her research on culture in EU law.