European Union Law

Code:

D407

Acronym:

DCOMU1

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Legal Sciences

Instance: 2003/2004 - 1S

Active?	Yes
Course/CS Responsible:	Law

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
D	126	Official Study Plan - LD	4	-	7	-

Objectives

• As students have not yet received any teaching relative to the European Union, this subject is essentially organised as “EU Constitutional Law”. Thus, in the first place, it aims to teach students of a Member-State about the goals, dynamics of the developing process, basic principles, jurisdiction, bodies, functioning of the European Union and European Communities, the respective legal system and the relations between this and the domestic legal systems and the international legal system.


• Second, and because it is intended that students develop a critical awareness of the political reality that constitutes European integration, there will be a brief description of the various schools and theories which have, since the 1950s, attempted to characterise this process and set it in a political framework, thereby bridging the gap between Political Science and the Theory of International Relations.


• Finally, students should gain knowledge of the main achievements of integration, by briefly analysing the internal market and certain of the Union’s community policies.

Program

I - Origins And Evolution Of The European Union

I – Origins of the E.U.
1 – “Europe”. Geographic, cultural and civilizational identity.
2 – Historical experiences of union in Europe – from Antiquity to the 19th century.
3 – Historical context of the formation of contemporary European unification – from A. Briand’s Project to the “Schuman Declaration”.

II – Evolution of European unification – from Paris to Nice
1 – The “Schuman Declaration” and the setting up of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). Short analysis of the goals, structure, jurisdiction and functioning of the ECSC. Achievements and gaps. Its future integration into the EC.
2 – Projects for the European Defence Community and the European Political Community. Reasons for failure.
3 – The Messina Conference and constitution of the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom). Preliminary analysis of the aims, structure, jurisdiction and functioning of the EEC. Short reference to aims of the EAEC.
4 – Evolution of the European Communities: between deepening and broadening.
5 – The Treaty on the European Union. Origins.

II - THE EUROPEAN UNION GOALS, STRUCTURE, POLITICAL CHARACTERISATION

I – The European Union.
1 – Structure: the common institutional frame and the “3 Pillars”. § The question of the legal personality of the Union. Fundamental principles: between union and flexibility. Citizenship and the Union. The Economic and Monetary Union. The Charter of Fundamental Rights - a critical analysis.
2 – Analysis of Pillars 2 and 3 - jurisdiction, functioning and gaps. The evolution enshrined at Nice.

II – Political Characterisation of the Union.
Between realist intergovernmentalism and federalist constitutionalism – main doctrines in attendance.

III - FUNCTIONING OF THE UNION

I – Institutional structure of the Union.
1 – Institutions or organs. § Composition, jurisdiction and functioning.
2 – The principle of institutional equilibrium.
3 – Consultative organs and auxiliary organs.

II – Decision-making procedures of the European Community
1 – Article 250 EC.
2 – The co-decision procedure in Article 251 EC
3 – The cooperation procedure in Article 252 EC
4 – The decision procedure relative to the budget – Article 272 EC Evolution registered with the Treaty of Nice.

III – Decision procedures of the 2nd and 3rd Pillars. Comparative analysis.

IV - THE COMMUNITY AND UNION LEGAL SYSTEM

I – Jurisdiction of the European Community
1 – The principle of competences of attribution.
2 – The principle of implicit competences. Articulating with Article 308 EC.
3 – The principle of subsidiarity. Meaning and relevance.
4 – The international jurisdication of the EC and the principle of parallel competences.

II – Sources of European Union Law.
Original law and derived law; Multilateral law and unilateral law; written and unwritten sources.
1 – Original law.
2 – The general principles of european union law. The question of fundamental rights. Evolution and current state of the question. Critical appreciation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights.
3 – Multilateral derived law.
4 – Unilateral derived law. mixed acts and sui generis acts.
5 – Interpretation of european union law.
6 – The jurisdictional safeguard of european union law

III – The relation between european union law and domestic legal systems.
IV – The legal system of the “2nd and 3rd Pillars”,

V - SUBSTANTIVE EUROPEAN UNION LAW THE INTERNAL MARKET.

Main Bibliography

Campos, João Mota, “Manual de Direito Comunitário”, Lisbon: Fundação Gulbenkian, 2000

Complementary Bibliography

Additional reading reference material, including national and foreign works, will be given during the course of classes.