Keynote Speakers

Investigating Environmental Crimes Using AI and Big Data Technology. The Romanian Experience

This keynote lecture examines the strategic integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data technologies in the investigation and enforcement of environmental laws within the Romanian jurisdiction. Amidst a significant rise in environmental offenses—evidenced by a 21.3% increase in cases reported by the Public Ministry in 2024 —traditional investigative methods have struggled to keep pace, leading to a 14.3% decline in successful indictments. This efficiency gap underscores the necessity of a technological paradigm shift. The study explores Romania's transition toward digitalized monitoring, characterized by an annual national expenditure on environmental protection reaching 28.0 billion lei (1.9% of GDP).

A cornerstone of Romania’s digital strategy is the SUMAL 2.0 system, a sophisticated wood traceability platform monitoring over 17.8 million cubic meters of timber and tracking 93,500 authorized vehicles. While successful in digitizing the supply chain, the system faces complex fraud, such as "photo-shopping" transport logs or misreporting volumes. Research indicates that Machine Learning (ML) algorithms can effectively detect these discrepancies, identifying overloaded trucks by analysing visual density and pixelation patterns in low-definition photographs, with detected discrepancies sometimes exceeding 12 cubic meters per transport. Furthermore, the integration of European Space Agency (ESA) Copernicus satellite data (Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2) enables the "Forest Watch" initiative to generate automated alerts for canopy loss in areas without valid harvesting permits.

The implementation of these technologies is heavily supported by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR). Investment 3 (Component 3) allocates substantial funding for equipping the National Environmental Guard (GNM) with advanced tools, including 16 drones, 8 truck scanners, and 709 body-cams, aiming to conduct at least 400 digital-led control missions by late 2025. These efforts are aligned with the National AI Strategy 2024-2027 (SN-IA), which prioritizes the creation of high-quality datasets and the adoption of open-source solutions for public administration.

However, the transition to algorithmic enforcement is governed by rigorous legal and ethical frameworks. The European AI Act (Regulation (UE) 2024/1689) imposes strict limits on predictive policing and biometric surveillance, categorizing many environmental monitoring tools as 'high-risk'. In the Romanian judicial context, the admissibility of digital evidence—governed by Article 97 of the Code of Criminal Procedure—remains a critical challenge. The study highlights that in an era of deepfakes and advanced manipulation, digital evidence must transition toward a "digital gold standard" utilizing blockchain-verified timestamps and digital signatures to ensure technical integrity in court.

The research identifies significant structural barriers, including a chronic deficit of specialized human capital within law enforcement agencies and a lack of interoperability between institutional "data islands". To ensure long-term success, Romania must institutionalize digital forensics and move beyond external funding dependencies. Ultimately, the Romanian experience serves as a vital case study on balancing ecological security with fundamental rights in an increasingly digitalized society.

Cristian Dumitru Miheș is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Oradea, Romania, where he currently serves as Dean of the Faculty of Law. His teaching areas include Criminal Law, Criminal and Forensic Sciences, and The Influence of New Technologies on the Administration of Justice at the undergraduate level, as well as European Criminal Law and AI and Criminal Sciences at the LL.M. level.

He completed specialization courses in International and European Criminal Law organized by the International Institute of Higher Studies in Criminal Sciences (ISISC) and the Faculty of Law of the University of Palermo in Siracusa, Italy (2005–2007), as well as by the Academy of European Law in Trier, Germany (2018–2020).

Since 2017, he has served as Editor-in-Chief of the Oradea Law Faculty Journal. He is also a member of editorial boards and a reviewer for several international academic journals, and has edited two collective volumes.

Professor Miheș has participated as an expert, team member, and coordinator in numerous research and institutional development projects in the fields of law and higher education, both nationally and internationally. These include: the HERCULE III Project — EUINVESTIGUNIMISKOLC 101015428 (2020–2022); European Challenges, Central-Eastern European Responses in the Criminal Science of the 21st Century (2021–2022); Comparative Research Platform 2023 – Efficiency of Justice – Research Team Group, conducted for the Institute of Justice (Instytut Wymiaru Sprawiedliwości), Warsaw, Poland, where he served as Expert for Romania (2023); and The Rights of the Child in Public Law – Central European Comparative Perspective (2023–2024).

Among his recent publications are: Digitalization of Criminal Trials and Criminal Procedures in Romania, published in In legibus fundamentum rei publicae. Collection of Scientific Papers of the Comparative Research Platform 2023 (eds. Marcin Wielec, Paweł Sobczyk, Bartłomiej Oręziak, Wydawnictwo Instytutu Wymiaru Sprawiedliwości, Warsaw, 2025); Considerations Regarding the Implications of the Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence, Including from the Perspective of Criminal Law, published in the Romanian Journal of Intellectual Property Law, no. 3/2024; About the Implications of Utilization of AI Systems: Discriminatory and Unjust?, published in the proceedings of the conference Cybercrime and Cybersecurity. Challenges for the Contemporary Society (eds. Laura Maria Stănilă and Ioana Celina Pașca, Filodiritto Publisher, 2024); and Corporate Compliance versus the Right to Silence of Legal Entities in Romania: The Case of Certain Tax Evasion Offences, published in the Central European Academy Law Review, no. 2/2023.

In addition to his academic career, he has been practicing as an Attorney at Law since 2007. He is also a member of the Commission for the Bar Examinations and a lecturer in professional training courses for lawyers in Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Law.

Beyond Constraint: The Enabling Dimension of the Rule of Law in EU External Action

This keynote lecture challenges the prevailing tendency in European Union legal scholarship to conceptualise the rule of law primarily through its negative, power-constraining dimension. While the traditional understanding of the rule of law as a safeguard against arbitrariness and an instrument for limiting public power remains indispensable, it does not fully capture the normative and functional breadth of the concept. The lecture argues that the rule of law also possesses a positive, enabling dimension, one that allows legal frameworks to guide institutions towards effective, coordinated, and purposive action.

Against this theoretical background, the keynote examines the role of the rule of law within the sphere of EU external action, where the Union’s aspiration to emerge as a credible geopolitical actor increasingly intersects with the constitutional principle of conferral and related structural limitations on competences. The lecture explores the tensions arising between the need for institutional effectiveness and strategic autonomy, on the one hand, and the constitutional architecture of the Union, grounded in the allocation and limitation of powers, on the other.

Particular attention is devoted to the question of whether the EU’s understanding of the rule of law can simultaneously accommodate both its restraining and enabling functions within the context of a rapidly changing global order. In doing so, the keynote seeks to contribute to contemporary debates on the constitutional evolution of the European Union, the nature of supranational governance, and the future role of the rule of law in shaping the Union’s external identity and capacity to act.

Dr Darren Harvey is a Senior Lecturer in Law and Director of Undergraduate Studies at The Dickson Poon School of Law. Prior to joining King’s in 2019, Dr Harvey was an Early Career Fellow in EU law at Edinburgh Law School. He wrote his doctoral thesis on constitutional review by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) at the University of Cambridge. Before writing his thesis, Darren worked as a research assistant to Prof. Thomas Giegerich at the Jean Monnet Chair of European Union Law and European Integration. Darren holds a Master of Laws (LLM) degree in European Law from the Europa Institut at Saarland University, and an LLB (Hons) from Edinburgh Law School. Darren has taught a wide range of EU law and Public Law courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. In 2018, he was a Stagiaire in the cabinet of Judge Ian Forrester at the General Court of the CJEU. Research interests Darren's main research interests lie in European Union Law, Constitutional Law, Public Law and Judicial Review. His publications to date have focused on the Court of Justice of the European Union and its judicial review function. He has also published on EU Citizenship, fundamental rights, the rule of law, the role of national parliaments in the European Union, Brexit, and the legal implications of Scottish independence. Recently, he has concentrated much of his attention on contributing journal articles, book chapters and blog posts that focus on legal aspects of Brexit and on the rule of law in the European Union.

Croatia and Europe at a Crossroads – Strategic Priorities and Dilemmas of the New Multiannual Financial Framework

In a world characterised by increasingly rapid and intense global competition, the proposal for the 2028–2034 Multiannual Financial Framework seeks to address key issues of security and European competitiveness as emerging priorities of the European Union. At the same time, cohesion policy funds and the Common Agricultural Policy have traditionally formed the core of the European project, while the public finances of many Member States are under significant fiscal pressure. In such circumstances, the already complex negotiations on the new European budget are expected to be more demanding than ever before.

As the European Parliament’s rapporteur for the Regulation on the so-called mega fund, MEP Ressler will present the key political priorities, opportunities, and dilemmas arising from the proposed transformation in the use of European funds. The outcome of these negotiations will largely determine both the future direction of European development and Croatia’s development opportunities in the coming decade.

Dr Karlo Ressler has served as a Croatian Member of the European Parliament since 2019 and currently heads the Croatian HDZ/EPP delegation. He is the European Parliament’s rapporteur for the Regulation on the so-called national and regional partnership plans, which will determine the allocation and use of nearly half of the Multiannual Financial Framework, and serves as the European People’s Party coordinator in the Committee on Budgets.

He graduated magna cum laude from the Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb. During his final year of studies, he attended the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom, and he earned his doctorate at the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law in Freiburg with a dissertation on human trafficking in Southeast Europe.

He previously worked as a teaching assistant at the Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb, and as an assistant to MEP Andrej Plenković. In 2016, he became an adviser to the Prime Minister of Croatia. He also served for two mandates as Vice-President of the Youth of the European People’s Party.

During the 2019–2024 parliamentary term, he served in the European Parliament as the Parliament’s chief negotiator for the EU budget and as Vice-Chair of the Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence. The central focus of MEP Ressler’s parliamentary work includes the EU budget, security, migration issues, and the digital transition.