Jean Monnet Chair

The Jean Monnet Chair at NUP: For the next three years (2020-2022), Neapolis University will have the honor to be the host of a prestigious Jean Monnet Chair, which has been awarded by the European Commission to Dr. George Pavlidis to further promote his teaching and research into innovative methods for “Targeting Criminal Assets in the European Union”.

The adoption of the Lisbon Treaty has considerably accelerated EU’s legislative initiatives in the area of freedom, security and justice (AFSJ). This project will consider the implementation of the principle that “crime does not pay” at the EU level, in particular the latest additions to the EU’s framework targeting criminal proceeds (Directive 2019/1153, Directive 2018/843, Regulation 2018/1805, Directive 2014/42). The objective is to examine whether current tools and approaches are efficient and to identify the necessary reforms to make the EU a “no safe haven” for criminal proceeds. Reforms are needed to ensure better compliance of EU norms with international norms, in particular the relevant UN instruments and the soft law standards developed by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The Chair holder will examines whether the creation of new EU agencies, competences and/or cooperation procedures would be necessary in this context. New tools have also to be adopted in the post-Lisbon era to enhance cross-border asset recovery, such as non-convention-based confiscation and reversal of the burden of proof as to the origin of assets.

The Jean Monnet Chair at NUP fosters the development of existing and new teaching, while research activities and events will give greater visibility to this field of study at national and regional level. The promotion of knowledge sharing though a working papers series and a knowledge database on asset recovery also fall within the mission objective of the NUP School of Law, which aims to consolidate a strong contribution to the discussion on the future of the European integration.

The Jean Monnet Chair Holder: Since 2013 Dr. George Pavlidis (PhD Geneva, LLM Warwick, LLM SMU, LLB Thessaloniki) is member of the permanent academic staff at the NUP School of Law and with over 70 publications in peer-reviewed journals in English, French, Spanish and Greek has an established reputation and experience in the field of international and EU law.