The webinar began with a welcome address from Prof Dr Emilia Mišćenić (ELI Croatian Hub Co-Chair; Associate Professor at the University of Rijeka, Faculty of Law) who introduced the speaker and the topic of the eighth webinar in the series.

Following the introduction, Prof Dr Vesna Tomljenović (Judge and the President of the Second Chamber of the General Court of the Court of Justice of the European Union) delivered a speech on ‘The General Court of the EU – The First Step in the Control of the Legality of the Application of EU Law’.

In the first part of the presentation, Judge Tomljenović dealt with several broad aspects of the General Court: why it was established in 1989, why its structure was reformed in 2016, and what and how it adjudicates. Some examples were given to better understand who has standing before the General Court, a question to which, despite abundant case law, is not always easy to respond. In the second part of the presentation, Judge Tomljenović presented several cases related to illegal State aid fiscal measures. She particularly focused her speech on the recent judgment of the General Court of 12 May 2021 in Joined Cases T‑816/17 and T‑318/18, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Amazon EU Sàrl, Amazon.com, Inc v European Commission.

The presentation was followed by a Q&A session.

The next ELI Croatian Hub webinar will be held on 12 November 2021.