A graduate of law (1977 – with the highest distinction, the René Marcq Prize rewarding the student that has shown the best aptitude for scholarly research), a graduate in economic law (1979 – First Class Honours) and with a PhD in law (1990 – with the highest grade), Marianne Dony is a lecturer at the ULB (Faculty of Law and the IEE) and a Jean Monnet Chair of European Union law. She has been Director, Vice President and President of the IEE and is currently President of the Centre for European Law. She is a member of the Royal Academy of Belgium, in the class of letters, moral sciences and political sciences.

Research activities

The first subject of her research is the supervision of state aid. Since her PhD thesis, she has continued to deepen her analysis and has become one of the leading specialists in this subject area in Europe. The research she has done, in the context of state aid, on the financing of services of general interest have led her to make services of general interest her second major area of research.

She then expanded the field of her research to questions of institutional law such as the powers of the EU and the principle of subsidiarity, the evolution of the decision-making process in the EU and various reforms of the EU and in the external relations of the EU.

Her desire to share knowledge led her to accept the proposal by the Editions de l’Université de Bruxelles to publish a manual entitled ‘Droit de l’Union européenne’ in their ‘UBLire’ collection of pocket-sized books, which is in it is sixth edition (2015). There she presents an introduction to institutional law and the policies of the EU, which she wanted to be both rigorous and accessible to everyone.

Her expertise enabled her to be chosen, on many occasions, as a consultant, be that by the European institutions, the Belgian public authorities or public or private operators.

She manages the European studies collection (with François Foret) for Editions de l’Université de Bruxelles and is the Director of the third edition of the Commentaire J. Mégret, in the context of which she also coordinates the major subject area ‘Ordre juridique de l’Union européenne et contentieux européen’.

Teaching activities

A lecturer at the ULB, she is in charge of the following classes in the Bachelor of law, the Masters in law and the LL.M. in European law : ‘Droit de l’Union européenne’; ‘Droit public européen’ (with Emmanuelle Bribosia); ‘Droit des relations extérieures de l’Union européenne’; ‘Droit européen de la concurrence – secteur public’. She is the coordinator of the Advanced Masters in interdisciplinary analysis of European integration.

She has been invited as a guest lecturer to other Belgian and foreign universities, such as Bologna University, Nice University, Grenoble University, Bordeaux University, the Institut de la francophonie pour l’administration et la gestion (IFAG – Institute of French speakers for administration and management) in Sofia, Rabat University, the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam (Hanoi) and the Institute of International Relations (Kiev).