Brecht Plessers

Area of expertise

EU constitutional law – Fundamental rights

Biography

Brecht Plessers is a PhD fellow of the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) at the Brussels Centre for Law, Government and Society (BruCeL) of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), under the supervision of Prof. dr. Merijn Chamon. Brecht holds a Master’s degree in law from KU Leuven and an LL.M. in European law from the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB). His Master’s thesis on cooperation agreements as potential ‘competence contracts’ was published in 2023 by Intersentia in an edited volume on Belgian federalism and state reform. Prior to joining the VUB, he worked as a trainee lawyer at the Brussels Bar.

Research

Brecht’s research interests centre on the vertical division of competences in the EU and, more broadly, the relationship between European integration and national constitutional law. His doctoral research examines how and to what extent the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights affects the constitutional balance between the EU and its Member States. The concept of ‘competence creep’ thereby serves as a conceptual lens.

Selection of publications

• ‘Tot hier en niet verder? De Minimumloonrichtlijn en de bevoegdheidsgrenzen in het Europees sociaal beleid’, SEW – Tijdschrift voor Europees en economisch recht (2026) 179–185.

• ‘Over gerubriceerde informatie, rechtsbescherming en de lange schaduw van het Handvest’, SEW – Tijdschrift voor Europees en economisch recht (2025) 513-517.