CERIL

The 3rd CERIL International Conference on European Restructuring and Insolvency Law took place on Thursday 8 and Friday 9 May 2025, in Leiden, the Netherlands. After the previous successful international conferences, the theme of the third conference was to discuss the evolving landscape of European restructuring and insolvency law. The discussions focused on the experience with the European Insolvency Regulation 2015, now 10 years after its entry into force. The conference also discussed the path for further harmonisation, including the Proposal for an Insolvency Directive and the new ideas for the introduction of a 28th EU-level insolvency law regime.

The third edition of the conference marked the 75th anniversary of the Schuman Declaration. This Declaration, signed on 9 May 1950, laid the basis for growing European collaboration and the current European Union. It has also paved the way for various restructuring and insolvency law initiatives. The Schuman Declaration placed Franco-German coal and steel under a supranational High Authority, inaugurating the ECSC and establishing economic interdependence as the organising principle that now underpins the EU Single Market.

The CERIL Conference 2025 in Leiden unfolded over two days. On Thursday 8 May, started with a joint welcome from Vice-Dean Prof. Jan Crijns and CERIL Chair Prof. Reinout Vriesendorp, and a scene-setting reflection on a decade of the 2015 European Insolvency Regulation (EIR). The afternoon featured a two-part SWOT analysis of the EIR first chaired by Dominik Skauradszun, then by Paul Omar with contributions from scholars and practitioners. Prof. Elina Moustaira closed the academic portion, after which members held a General Assembly and later gathered for a reception and dinner at Scheltema Leiden.

A Two-day Programme Framed by History

Friday 9 May shifted attention to Europe’s future restructuring agenda. After registration, EU Commissioner Michael McGrath delivered a recorded address to which former CERIL Chair Prof. em. Bob Wessels gave his reactions. An INSOL Europe Academic Forum panel “En Route for the Insolvency Directive?” preceded keynote remarks by the Dutch Minister for Legal Protection Teun Struycken. Sessions on the proposed EU “28th Regime” and a judicial round-table followed.

That same afternoon also marked the official send-off of Prof. Reinout Vriesendorp as a lecturer at Leiden Law School. His valedictory lecture on ‘Financial health: no rocket science, but a matter of collaboration and common sense’, attended by friends, family, colleagues, students and delegates of the CERIL conference.

Report

A report on this conference has been prepared by Mr. Jay Venkatesh Mehta, which is available here.