European Union Law: Foundations
Full course description
This course is devoted to an in-depth study of EU institutional law, within the broader perspective of EU law. Building on basic concepts of EU law, it seeks to advance the knowledge of the students to the level where they could handle EU institutional law matters in a professional or academic context. The four main topics of the course are: the ‘horizontal’ division of competences between the EU institutions (including legislative and administrative decision-making), the ‘vertical’ division of competences between the EU and the Member States (e.g. principles of conferral and subsidiarity), the judicial enforcement of EU law (infringement proceedings and preliminary reference procedure) as well as the position of the citizen in the European legal order (review of EU legal acts).
Course objectives
The main objectives of this course are that the student:
- acquires knowledge of the main characteristics of and developments in the field of EU institutional law;
- has in depth knowledge and understanding of the powers and functioning of the EU institutions and bodies
- understands the relationship between European law and national law as regards the divisions of competences, conflicts between the two and how these conflicts should be resolved;
- can apply theoretical concepts of EU institutional law to concrete cases and identify potential problems in this regard
- can develop a critical analysis (both orally and on paper) of concrete cases and developments in the relevant fields
Prerequisites
None
Recommended reading
- Textbook: European Union Law: Foundations (Oxford University Press, custom edition)
- Nigel Foster, Blackstone's EU Treaties & Legislation (latest edition)