Month: December 2025

PhD Workshop on European/International Insolvency Law | apply by December 31, 2025

Following seven successful editions, the Stichting Bob Wessels Insolvency Law Collection (BWILC) is pleased to announce its 8th PhD Workshop on European/International Insolvency Law. PhD students are invited to present their research ideas in the area of European/ International Insolvency Law, and discuss the challenges and questions they face.

The two-day workshop will be held on Wednesday 25 and Thursday 26 March 2026 at KU Leuven (Leuven, Belgium).

Objectives of the PhD Workshop

The workshop aims to achieve two main goals. First, it provides PhD students in the area of European/International Insolvency Law a chance to connect with peers who are more or less at the same stage of their academic career. They can meet, exchange experiences and create a network. Second, the workshop allows each participant to present, test and discuss its (developing) research ideas in front of fellow colleagues as well as experienced professors.

Participate in the PhD Workshop

This years’ workshop will take place at KU Leuven (Leuven, Belgium). The workshop is organised by the Stichting Bob Wessels Insolvency Law Collection, which supports the international and European insolvency law section in the library of the Leiden Law School. BWILC provides one night of accommodation in Leuven and, to the extent not otherwise reimbursed, a maximum of 50% of travel expenses up to EUR 250,- for those invited to give a research presentation.

PhD students may present their research proposal, interim results, or (draft) chapter/ article. Applications can be submitted by filling in this electronic form (see annex) by 31 December 2025, midnight CET. Participation in the workshop is reserved for invited PhD students.

Responsibility for the review of applications and the workshop lies with the Board of BWILC, consisting of Prof. Reinout Vriesendorp (chair), Dr. Gert-Jan Boon, Prof. Juanita Calitz, Prof. Stephan Madaus, Smitha Menon, Dr. Paul Omar, Dr. Neeti Shikha, and Prof. Joeri Vananroye. Prof. em. Bob Wessels is involved as a patron.

Employees’ protection under the EU Pre-pack Directive after the Trilogue: Employees’ protection under TUPE is alive and employees will still transfer in case of related party pre-packs!

A post by Rolef de Weijs, Luca Ratti and Johan Zwemmer

Towards a European pre-pack

In 2022 the European Commission presented a Proposal for the harmonisation of rules on pre-packs.[1] There were two central elements to the Commission’s proposal. First, all Member States should allow for pre-packs also with related parties. Second, existing EU protection of employees in case of pre-packs from the Transfer of Undertakings and Protection of Employees (TUPE) Directive[2] as developed by the CJEU would be abolished. The protection afforded under TUPE, as interpreted and developed by the CJEU, provides that employees transfer where the prepack is not aimed at the liquidation of the enterprise. As a consequence, employees will transfer most notably where a former shareholder or another related party acquires the business out of insolvency. In its unexplained attempts to give pre-packs a maximal boost, the Commission’s Proposal simply provided that all pre-packs would be deemed to be aimed at liquidation, which would mean that employees would never transfer on the basis of European law.

Under the European legislative process, the Commission has the right to initiate a directive, but it is up to the Council and the European Parliament to adopt a directive. The Council’s position has been somewhat unclear. The European Parliament pushed back against the Commission’s proposal for the harmonisation of rules on pre-packs with an amendment aimed at safeguarding employees’ protection. With these different positions, the Pre-pack Proposal entered the Trilogue phase, a process often referred to as the “back room of the back room.”[3] Since the Trilogue is not a transparent procedure, outsiders could not know in which direction the negotiations were heading. Like Schrödinger’s cat, we did not know whether employees’ protection was dead or alive while the Trilogue was ongoing.

The outcome of the Trilogue remains somewhat messy.[4] However, we conclude that, based on the text of the Pre-pack Directive, it is sufficiently clear that employees’ protection under TUPE is still intact and that employees will continue to transfer in the case of related-party pre-packs. The rather aggressive attempt to abolish employee protection in such cases has been unsuccessful.

Continue reading “Employees’ protection under the EU Pre-pack Directive after the Trilogue: Employees’ protection under TUPE is alive and employees will still transfer in case of related party pre-packs!”

A cost-free reparation loan that costs billions and reconstructs nothing

A critical look by Veerle Colaert and Paul Dermine at the wrangling over the Russian assets held at Euroclear

While Trump’s original peace plan appears to be off the table, his proposal to create an investment fund with Russian assets at Euroclear continues to reverberate. Many European leaders are now calling even more forcefully for these assets to be transferred to Ukraine without delay, before the Trump administration mobilises them with its own agenda – and for its own benefit.

The urge to act quickly is understandable, but it is at least as important to keep a cool head. The United States clearly cannot seize the Russian assets held at Euroclear without the EU’s consent. And the reasons for the EU to leave those assets untouched remain as compelling as ever.

Continue reading “A cost-free reparation loan that costs billions and reconstructs nothing”

The Law of Capitalism and How to Transform It – An Evening with Professor Katharina Pistor

Leuven (Belgium), Provinciehuis, Thursday 15 January 2026, 6 pm

On Thursday 15 January 2026, 18:00 at the Provinciehuis in Leuven (Belgium) Professor Katharina Pistor of Columbia Law School will introduce her new book on The Law of Capitalism and How to Transform It in discussion with the audience and moderated by Professor Joeri Vananroye (Institute for Insolvency Law, KU Leuven). Attendance is free, but please register via this link before 14 January 2026.

Even though capitalism has been conventionally described as an economic system, it is actually a deeply entrenched legal regime. Law provides the material for coding simple objects, promises, and ideas as capital assets. It also provides the means for avoiding the legal constraints that societies have frequently imposed on capitalism. By exploring the ways that Western legal systems empower individuals to advance their interests against society, Katharina Pistor reveals how capitalism is an unsustainable system designed to foster inequity. She offers ideas for rethinking how the transformation of the law and the economy can help us create a more just system—before it is too late.

In 2019 Professor Pistor presented her book The Code of Capital: How the Law Creates Wealth and Inequality at the KU Leuven for a large audience. See here for videos of the event. An early version of the ideas in this book was presented at the 2016 Heremans Lectures in Law & Economics at KU Leuven. Professor Pistor received in 2024 a doctorate honoris causa from the University of Antwerp.

Attendance is free, but please register via this link before 14 January 2026.

NextGen Insolvency: studenten reflecteren over uitdagingen in het insolventierecht

Uitnodiging gratis studieavond

Naar goede gewoonte organiseren de masterstudenten van de grondige studie insolventierecht aan de Universiteit Antwerpen een studieavond onder begeleiding van prof. Melissa Vanmeenen.

Tijdens deze achttiende editie geven studenten toelichting bij een aantal thema’s uit het insolventierecht.

De studieavond gaat door op dinsdag 16 december 2025 om 19u, in lokaal C.103, Stadscampus UAntwerpen. (ingang via gebouw E naast Agora Café, Grote Kauwenberg 2 – volg de gang langs de sporthal en neem de trap naar de eerste verdieping)

Iedereen is welkom, gratis registreren kan via deze link.

Meer info: mail naar melissa.vanmeenen@uantwerpen.be  of via deze linkedin post

Insolvency Doctor Knock: not Prozac but Related Party Pre-Packs (RPPP’s)

A post by Rolef De Weijs, Luca Ratti & Johan Zwemmer

The EU wants to introduce pre-packs as a new type of insolvency procedure as a cure for financial failure. The French novel ‘Dr Knock’ provides a clear warning about doctors and medicines. Too much medicine weakens a healthy society. The following contains two spoilers. The first as to the plot of Dr. Knock. The second as to what will happen if the current EU Pre-Pack Proposal is adopted where it forces Member States to allow for Related Party Pre-Packs at the expense of creditors and employees.

The story of Dr Knock

The French novel Dr Knock (1924) by Romains tells the story of a doctor in a rural French town who wants to retire. The ambitious doctor Knock takes over the practice. The main problem is that the population is too healthy. Dr Knock, however, is of the opinion that healthy people are simply people that don’t realize they are sick. Dr Knock then offers each citizen a free consult, where he discusses new ailments and the risks of microbes. Soon half the population is under doctor supervision and the local hotel is turned into an emergency hospital.

Continue reading “Insolvency Doctor Knock: not Prozac but Related Party Pre-Packs (RPPP’s)”

Insolventierecht: een synopsis in minder dan 4500 woorden

Insolventierecht is het recht van schaarste: waar aanspraken botsen en waarde moet worden verdeeld zonder dat elk kan krijgen wat hem krachtens het niet-insolventierecht toekomt. Deze schaarste dwingt het privaatrecht tot zijn scherpste keuzes. Insolventierecht is daardoor een zeer technisch en een zeer politiek rechtsdomein.

Het onderscheid tussen zakelijke dan wel persoonlijke rechten komt in alle scherpte naar voor in de insolventiehypothese. Waar het zakelijk recht een reële aanspraak geeft op een goed (un droit réel), heeft de schuldeiser slechts een hoopvolle verwachting van een toekomstige realisatie (une créance).

Continue reading “Insolventierecht: een synopsis in minder dan 4500 woorden”