On 12 February 2026, the three-day international conference on the theme “Fokus Ostrecht / Focus Eastlaw” took place in a hybrid format at the Faculty of Law of Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (Germany). The academic legal conference was organised by the Institute for Eastern European Law at the University of Kiel with the support of the German Society for Eastern European Studies, the Alumni and Friends of CAU e.V. and the Ostrecht Kiel e.V. association. The main working languages of the conference were German and English. The conference was chaired by Prof. Dr Dr h.c. Alexander Trunk (University of Kiel).
Following the official opening, which included welcoming addresses by Prof. Lado Chanturia, a judge at the European Court of Human Rights, and other professors, the extensive conference programme began on the first day (12 February) with an outline of the history of the Kiel Institute for Eastern European Law, which is currently on the verge of closure, as well as an examination of fundamental issues in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, including sections on historical and political aspects, comparative law and transition studies, and aspects of constitutional and administrative law. On behalf of the Centre for Eastern European Law at the University of Graz, the following took part in the conference: Univ.-Prof. DDr. Dr. h.c. Bernd Wieser, Director of the ZOR; Assoz. Prof. Dr.iur. Benedikt Harzl, M.A., Deputy Head of the ZOR, and Inga Zelena-Bauer, LL.M., MA, PraeDoc university assistant at the ZOR. Prof. Dr Harzl delivered a presentation on the topic ‘Austria’s neutrality in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine’. On 12 February 2026, Inga Zelena-Bauer gave a presentation on the topic ‘The constitutional law of Belarus in the light of the war in Ukraine’.
On 13–14 February, current issues in the fields of civil law – including family law, private commercial law and civil procedure law – as well as aspects of private international law and procedural law, international law and EU law, including international commercial and environmental law, were discussed. Despite the large number of speakers, discussions took place on several occasions during the conference. Following the conference, a volume containing the participants’ papers will be compiled and published. The full conference programme can be found here: Institute.