Practical issues of European Social Security Law: A Dialogue between Academia and Practitioners

Editor Stamatia Devetzi is Professor of Social Security Law at the University of Applied Sciences in Fulda, Germany. She studied law in Athens, Rome and Osnabrück, holds a diploma in law from the Law Faculty of University of Athens (1994) and a PhD from Osnabrück University (1998). She is member of the advisory board of FNA (Research Institute of the German Pensions Insurance) and of FIS (Network for Interdisciplinary Research on Social Policy, funded by the German Ministry of Labour. Her previous books include Die Kollisionsnormen des Europäischen Sozialrechts (Duncker & Humblot, 2000), Die offene Methode der Koordinierung und das Europäische Sozialmodell (ibidem, 2009, co-editor with Hans Platzer), Too Sick to Work? (Kluwer, 2011, co-editor with Sara Stendahl) and Social Security in Times of Corona (Sakkoulas, 2021, with Angelos Stergiou). Her papers have been published by, among other outlets, the European Journal of Social Security, the European Journal of Migration and Law, and ZESAR - Zeitschrift für europäisches Sozial- und Arbeitsrecht.

Effrosyni Bakirtzi, LL.M, studied law in Thessaloniki (Greece), Rome (Italy) and Frankfurt (Germany). Since 2020, she is Coordinator of the academic research project “Social Security Coordination and Migration: a German-Greek perspective (2020–2022)” at the University of Applied Sciences Fulda in Germany. Her previous books include Civil Status Certificates with Foreign Elements (2009) (with Eirini Tsifopoulou in Greek) and Case Studies in Merging the Administrations of Social Security Contribution and Taxation (2011) (with Danny Pieters and Paul Schoukens). Her papers have been published by, among other outlets, the Hellenic Review of European Law, the (Greek) Social Security Law Review, the VSSAR - Vierteljahresschrift für Sozial- und Arbeitsrecht, the ZESAR - Zeitschrift für europäisches Sozial- und Arbeitsrecht and the Online Journal of the Greek Association of Labour and Social Security Law (edeka.gr).

Linda Bojanowski, LL.M., studied Social Law and Social Economy in Fulda and Kassel. Since 2019 she is Senior Administration Expert at the National Association Health Insurance Funds - German Liaison Agency Heath Insurance - International (GKV-Spitzenverband, DVKA) in Bonn and lecturer for the module “European Social (Insurance) Law” at the University of Applied Sciences Fulda.

Eberhard Eichenhofer was born 1950; after studies at the universities of Tübingen and Saarbrücken he received 1979 a doctoral degree by the Universität des Saarlandes, Saarbrücken. Between 1980 and 1982 he worked as law clerk at the Federal Court for Social Law. From 1982 till 1989 he was researcher at the Max-Planck-Institut für ausländisches und internationales Sozialrecht Munich. 1987 he received the degree of a facultas docendi (= Habilitation) by the Universität des Saarlandes Saarbrücken with an inquiry on the topic: international social security and social welfare law and private international law. 1989 he became Professor for civil law and social security law at the universities Osnabrück (till 1997) und Jena (1997-2016). His recent books include: Werner Maihofer, Vordenker des Sozialliberalismus (Grimma, 2022); Sozialrecht, 2021(12. edition), translated in Mandarin 2019 and Korean 2021; Sozialrecht der Europäischen Union, 2022 (8 th edition); The Law of the Activating Welfare State, 2015; Soziale Menschenrechte im Völker-, Europa- und deutschen Recht (Social human rights in international public, European and German Law), 2012.

Daniel Hlava is Professor of Health and Social Security Law at the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences in Germany since October 2021. He studied Social Law in Fulda and Kassel. From July 2014 to March 2022, Hlava was an expert for Social Law and European Labour Law at the Hugo Sinzheimer Institute for Labour and Social Security Law (HSI) of the Hans Böckler Foundation in Frankfurt. He is co-editor of the HSI REPORT ON EUROPEAN LABOUR AND SOCIAL SECURITY LAW. His papers have been published by, among other outlets, in NEUE ZEITSCHRIFT FÜR SOZIALRECHT, NEUE ZEITSCHRIFT FÜR ARBEITSRECHT, ARBEIT UND RECHT and on the website WWW.HUGO-SINZHEIMER-INSTITUT.DE.

Moira Kettner studied law in Passau, Cracow and Bonn. In 2015 she joined the Division “Coordination of Social Security Systems” at the German Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, since 2021 she is head of that Division. Previously, Moira Kettner held positions as desk officer at the Ministry’s Directorate-General for Matters Concerning Persons with Disabilities and as labour attachee at the German Embassy in Ankara.

Stefanie Klein, LL.M., is Head of the Liaison Body of the Social Accident Insurance in Duisburg. From 2011-2016 she served as a lawyer and general counsel at SOKA-BAU's European Department in Wiesbaden, preceded by a period from 2004-2011 as a Lawyer at the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds, Liaison Body Health Insurance, in Bonn. Before, she had worked in London followed by studies of law at the universities of Jena, Tilburg (NL) and Cologne. She holds a Master in European Social Security of the University of Leuven, passed the Cours de Civilisation Française de la Sorbonne and the Certificat de Français Juridique de la Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie, Paris. Since 2017, she serves as Judge of Honour at the German Federal Social Court, Kassel.

Anna Rizou is a social security expert and is the Director of the Directorate for Special Insurance and benefits at the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of Greece. She is the representative of Greece in the Administrative Committee and the Advisory Committee for the coordination of the social security systems of the European Commission. For many years, she has been dealing with the implementation of the provisions of European Regulations 883/04 and 987/09 on the coordination of social security systems in the Member States, as well as the preparation, negotiation and conclusion of Bilateral Social Security Agreements with third countries.

Angelos Stergiou studied law at the University of Thessaloniki (Greece) and social law at the “Université Paris I, Panthéon, Sorbonne” (France), where he gained his Ph.D. (1985).  Since 1982 he has working as barrister at law in Thessaloniki, and since 1990 has been Professor of Social Law at the Faculty of Law at the University of Thessaloniki. He currently collaborates with the Toulouse University (France) and the Fulda University of Applied Sciences (Germany). He has published extensively on social law issues.

Anna Tsetoura studied Law in Thessaloniki (Greece) and European Social Security Law in Leuven (Belgium). Since 2018, she is member of the teaching staff of social sciences faculty at the Hellenic Open University in Greece. Previously Tsetoura held Associate of the Greek journal Review of Social Security Law (EDKA). Tsetoura is a member of the Scientific Committee of the Journal Social Security Law (DtKA), of the “Social Administration Research Lab - SARL”, Social Policy Unit (University of West Attica) and Member of Alexandroupolis Legal Bar Association. Her previous books include THE EUROPEAN PENSIONER, Sakkoulas publications, 2017 and THE FREE MOVEMENT OF PERSONS IN THE EUROPEAN SOCIAL MODEL, Papazisi, 2019. Her papers have been published by, among other outlets EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SECURITY, SOCIAL SECURITY LAW (Greek review) and SOCIAL COHESION AND DEVELOPMENT.