THE NETHERLANDS:Dublin-born Deirdre Curtin, a specialist in European law was yesterday presented with one of Europe's most prestigious and richest academic prizes, the Spinoza award, in recognition of her "groundbreaking vision concerning the governance of international organisations such as the European Union".
At a presentation in the De Grote Kerk by the Dutch minister for education and science, Prof Curtin was commended for her tenacity in pointing out deficiencies in, and possible improvements to, accountability in the EU.
The judges of the annual awards said that, ahead of anyone else, her extensive research was warning of the insidious growth in the number of autonomous bodies associated with the EU.
The annual Spinoza prizes, sponsored by the Dutch Science Organisation are the country's equivalent of the Nobel prizes and there were four recipients, three of them Dutch.
Originally a labour law specialist, Prof Curtin, who studied at UCD and Trinity College, wrote her doctoral thesis on sex discrimination in the workplace and employment equality law in Ireland.
"My interest in the EU was aroused when I saw the enormous influence from Europe which was forcing change. At the time it wasn't realised in Ireland, but as the EU expanded, laws began to have a huge impact on home affairs, justice and civil liberties at home," she said.
Ms Curtin, who is professor of international and European governance at the University of Utrecht where she has worked for 15 years, will set up a number of doctoral projects on accountability.
"Hopefully my prize can fund five or six such projects, on specific issues such as looking at the powers of the Secretariat of the Council of Ministers, Europol, networks of financial regulators, investigating their powers and their practices."