EU Environment Academy

The European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA) is a highly accredited educational institution, specialized in EU legislation and EU approximation matters. As one of the longest-standing experts in EU public affairs, they have 40 years of experience in training public administration officials in Member States, countries applying for EU membership, the European Commission, and other EU institutions. 

EIPA’s core mission is to provide a mix of deep insights and practical knowledge about EU policies to all professionals related to EU public affairs, with the key objective of further improving their skills and capabilities for efficient policy management. With almost 20 years of presence in the Western Balkan countries, the EIPA are well-versed with the region and the different stages of association with the EU and preparation for EU Membership that each of the countries finds itself in. 

Read more about EIPA: European Institute of Public Administration (eipa.eu)

Petra Jeney has worked at EIPA since 2012 as a Senior Lecturer for civil servants and public officials from EU Institutions, EU Member States and EU Accession countries. Her areas of expertise include the area of freedom, security and justice in the European Union; EU judicial cooperation, EU family law; EU asylum and immigration law, EU fundamental rights protection and constitutional law issues related to the European Union. 

At EIPA she oversees training and consultancy for the judiciary and other legal professionals as well as officials from the national administrations and EU institutions in relation to European Union’s Area of Freedom Security and Justice, mostly judicial cooperation in the European Union as well as undertaking studies and preparing briefing notes on such topics under various contracts for the European Parliament and European Commission. In September 2021, Petra was appointed Director of EIPA Luxembourg. 

She also teaches at Eötvös Loránd University as an Associate Professor. 

Before joining EIPA, Petra was head of department at the Ministry of Justice of Hungary where she was responsible for judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters in the EU. In 2011 she played a leading role in the Hungarian Presidency of the European Union in the area of judicial cooperation, including chairing the Coordinating Committee in the area of police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters. 

Petra studied law at the Eötvös Loránd University, in the Faculty of Law, Budapest. She continued her training at the University of Nottingham where she was awarded an LLM in European law. She received her PhD in Legal Studies from the Central European University in 2007.

Wolfgang Koeth is a Senior Lecturer at EIPA Maastricht, specializing in EU external relations, Common Commercial Policy (CCP) and external financial instruments. Before joining EIPA in 2009, Wolfgang was Team Leader at the EU office in Pristina, in charge of implementing the European Commission’s assistance in the rule of law sector. Prior to the 2004 enlargement, he worked as a Political Advisor and Programme Manager within the EC Delegation in Vilnius and as a Lecturer in European Affairs at the University of Vilnius. He also spent some years at the European Parliament as a political advisor, specializing in the EU’s relations with its eastern neighbors. 

Wolfgang is a graduate of the Institute of Political Studies at the Robert Schuman University in Strasbourg. He also holds a degree in Russian Studies from the French National Institute of Eastern Languages and Cultures (INALCO) in Paris, and a degree in French and German Comparative Studies from the Nouvelle Sorbonne.

Sabina Lange is Senior Lecturer at EIPA, and a Senior Fellow of Maastricht University. She is also Associate Professor in International Relations at the University of Ljubljana. Sabina specializes in decision-making in the EU and in interinstitutional relations, in particular in external action policies and with regard to delegated and implementing acts. Since 2009 she has been training Member States’ officials in programmes for preparation of future rotating Council presidencies and has given regular courses in the European External Action Service, the European Commission, the European Parliament, the General Secretariat of the Council and EU agencies. She has been a consultant for the European Parliament and the European Committee of the Regions. Her current research focuses on delegated and implementing acts. 

Sabina has published several books, academic articles, book chapters and think-tank pieces on the Council of the EU, the role of the rotating Council Presidency, delegated and implementing acts, and institutional issues in EU external action and with security and foreign policy issues related to the Western Balkans as well as on Slovenian foreign and European policies.

Ralf Jülich is an expert in EU environmental law with more than 25 years of academic and consulting professional experience in the field of EU environmental and climate protection law and policy related to transposition and implementation of the environmental acquis. He is a Senior Lecturer at EIPA and has since his start at EIPA in 2009 accumulated more than 12 years of intensive training experience for civil servants and public officials form the EU Institutions, EU Member States and EU Accession countries. Beside his role at EIPA, Ralf has served as a legal expert for over 15 countries, including various countries in the Western Balkan region such as Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina. He is currently a Legal Expert for Moldova, supporting the Moldovan EU approximation process and alignment of Moldovan environmental law with the EU acquis. 

Ralf has studied EU and international law at University of Edinburgh and holds a First Legal State Exam from University of Münster and a Second Legal State Exam (equivalent to a Master’s degree in Law) from the High Court in Bremen.

Juan Diego Ramírez-Cárdenas Díaz is a Senior Lecturer specialised in EU administrative law, with a focus on regulatory affairs and the enlargement process.