Thanks to the combined efforts of Professors Nathan Cambien, Merijn Chamon, Paul Dermine, Hans Gilliams, Professor Inge Govaere, Marie Jacobs, Professor Cecilia Rizcallah, Dr. Liesbet Van den Broeck, and Professors Antoine Vandenbulke, Pieter-Augustijn Van Malleghem, Piet van Nuffel, and Jonathan Wildemeersch, we are pleased to announce the birth of the new Belgian Association for European Union Law.

The association has been named BEDER, with BE referring to Belgium/België and DER to European Union Law/Europees Unierecht. The statutes were published in the Belgian Official Gazette on May 16, 2024.

The objective of BEDER is to build a dynamic network bringing together active forces in Belgium in the field of European Union law, from academia and institutions to the bar, judiciary, and business world. Through mutual contacts and exchanges of ideas, this network aims to contribute to a better understanding and more effective application of European Union law.

In this context, BEDER was officially admitted as a member of FIDE, the International Federation for European Law, on May 17, 2024.

BEDER aims to engage in the following activities:

• Organizing an annual networking event where legal practitioners, academics, and other professionals can meet, exchange ideas, and analyze European Union law;

• Appointing national rapporteurs for the biennial FIDE congresses who can prepare the Belgian report for these congresses;

• Publishing information on the BEDER website about events, conferences, and seminars on various European law issues and publications taking place in Belgium.