http://www.mpipriv.de/ww/en/pub/content5765.cfm

Following a several month long application process, a standing university consortium under the leadership of the University of Hamburg has prevailed over applicants from Italy and France. On behalf of the European Commission and the People’s Republic of China, the Hamburg consortium will now establish the Europe-China School of Law (ECSL) in Peking. With financial support totalling 35 million euros, the ECSL is one of the most prominent European-Chinese cooperative legal projects that will be undertaken by the EU in the coming years.

Involved participants include the universities of Madrid (Spain), Bologna (Italy), Robert-Schuman Strasbourg (France), Sciences Po Paris (France), Lund (Sweden), Leuven (Belgium), Manchester (Great Britain), Krakow (Poland) and Maastricht (Netherlands) as well as the Central European University (Hungary), the Eötvos Lorand University (Hungary) in Budapest und the Trinity College Dublin (Ireland). For China’s part, the Peking located China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL) and the Tsinghua University will participate. The consortium is to be significantly supported by the Bucerius Law School, Max Planck Institutes in Hamburg, Heidelberg, Munich and Freiburg, the Europa-Kolleg Hamburg and several European law firms.

Already envisioned for the ECSL in Peking is a two year master program in European law, to begin in 2008, which will result in the conferral of Chinese as well as a European masters degree. A second module is to offer professional training for Chinese judges, government attorneys and lawyers on the rule of law in constitutional states. Additionally, a Chinese-European research and consultation institute will be erected with the task of providing advice and academic counsel on the reform of the Chinese legislature.

The European Commission is to finance the ECSL-Project with 17.7 million euros over a five year period. Chinese sources will provide an investment of just under 10 million euros. An additional 7.58 million euros will be supplied by the winning consortium in the following allotments: the Hamburg Senate is to contribute financing of 2.6 million euros, 1.2 million euros will be provided by the university and 800,000 euros from the federal government. An additional three million euros will be supplied by international partners of the Hamburg consortium.