EU Legal System & Political System (module 2)

Teacher(s)

Cabrita Teresa; Defacqz Samuel;

Language

English

Main themes

This course provides an introduction to the legal system of the European Union combining theoretical approaches and case studies. It inter alia covers the following topics:

• Nature of the EU system
• Policy- and decision-making procedures (EU treaties, international agreements, legislative acts, implementing and delegated acts, etc.)
• Typology of EU acts (treaties, regulations, directives, decisions, etc.)
• Sources of EU law (OJ publications, ECJ judgments, etc.) and hierarchy
• Fundamental rights, citizenship and general principles of EU law
• Enforcement of EU law in front of national courts (primacy and direct effect; actions for damages; preliminary references) and in front of EU courts (actions for annulment, for failure to act, infringement proceedings, actions for damages, etc.)

In this course, students study the European Union as a political system.
The course gives an overview of the EU’s institutional architecture and its main actors. Attention is first paid to the composition, the internal functioning, the tasks, the main political dynamics and the areas of tension within each institution. Subsequently, the interactions between the institutions are studied, by focusing on the interinstitutional and interstate dynamics of EU policy-making.
The course then discusses the input side of the EU’s political system (elections, public opinion, interest groups and interest representation) as well as the output side (types of EU policies and policy instruments).
Finally, the course familiarises students with the main political science theories on the emergence, development, design and nature of European integration. Particular attention is paid to contemporary issues, such as the politicization of the EU, Euroscepticism, and questions on democracy and legitimacy.

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :

At the end of the course, students are able to : EU Legal system understand the specificityand main features of the EU legal system explain the basic concepts of EU law read and understand official sources of EU law critically assess the functioning of the EU legal system (in terms of democracy, domestic courts’ acceptance, etc.) EU Political system understand how the EU and its institutions work and how EU policies are made critically assess the nature and functioning of the EU have basic knowledge of the main political theories of European integration analyse key challenges and topics in contemporary EU politics

Evaluation methods

The examination for this learning unit includes both the assessment of a graded practical exercise (30%) and a final written open-book exam (70%). The grades for the practical exercise will carry over to the August session (resit).
The use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems is not encouraged in this course. However, if AI systems are used during assessments, students are required to submit a print-screen or transcription of the exchange had with the chosen AI system(s), together with a paragraph explaining the reasons for resorting to AI and the advantages and disadvantages found in the use of this method.

Faculty or entity

> IEEB