JJUA54049U EU International Relations Law: The External Dimension of European Integration. - NOTE: Cancelled in the spring semester 2016
Long gone are the days where Member States of the European Union
conducted their individual foreign policies independently of each
other. Over the past six decades of European Integration, the role
of the European Union has become increasingly important, to the
point where the EU has become an international actor which is
separate and distinctive from its Member States. First developed
the Common Commercial Policy, through which the Union now possesses
a wide competence to act before the World Trade Organization, a
competence which is to the exclusion of the EU Member States. As
political integration followed and economic integration widened,
the Union became a distinct international actor in many more
fields: With the Lisbon Treaty, foreign direct investment has
become an exclusive competence of the Union; EU military actions to
combat piracy in the gulf of Aden are run through Operation
ATALANTA, a mission part of the EU’s Common Security and Defence
Policy; international aviation is increasingly organized through EU
agreements alone; extradition with the US is organized on the basis
of a mixed EU-Member State agreement negotiated by the Commission,
the list is long.
The aim of this course is to provide students interested in EU law,
international law and international politics a deeper insight into
the growing body of ‘EU External Relations Law’. In doing so the
course will seek to provide the student with a strong sense of why
European integration has developed as it has over the past six
decades. In doing so the goal is to understand and debate the legal
and political interests that have shaped the present state of the
Union in the world: the historical impact of the Court of Justice,
the influence of pro Integration members such as Belgium and the
Netherlands, or the role of more sceptical Member such as the UK;
the influence of the Commission, Council and Parliament. The goal
is thus to not simply know internal rules governing EU external
relations as well as EU law as against international law, but also
to look beyond law – to understand the economic and political
interests which these rules reflect, and to comprehend their impact
on socio-economic and political processes these rules intend to
organize. One key question we will investigate throughout the
semester is then this: Is the internal fragmentation of the EU and
its Member States damaging Europe’s ability to reflect its
interests on the international scene in an effective and coherent
fashion?
This course will guide the student through the internal and
external aspects of EU external relations law. Internally, the
course examines the legal organization of the European Union as an
international actor: its development towards having a distinct
legal personality; its exclusive policy competences and those its
shares with the Member States, the legal nature of mixed
international agreements – treaties concluded by both the EU and
its Member States and the challenges they entail. The role of the
European Court of Justice, and the institutional framework of EU
external relations. Prominent in this course will be the Lisbon
Treaty changes, notably the European Union External Action Service,
the new diplomatic service of the Union. Externally, the course
examines the participation of the EU in international
organizations, and the relationship between international law and
EU law. The latter includes the relationship between WTO and EU
law, as well as recent debates on human rights protection at EU and
UN level in the context of combating terrorism. In keeping with the
law-in-context approach of this course, a number of substantive
policy areas will be discussed: international trade (goods,
services and investment); development; aviation and energy policy;
common foreign and security policy (defence and peacekeeping);
justice and home affairs (migration).
- Identify the complex legal problems concerning the
rules that govern the relationship between the Member States and
the EU and between the EU institutions.
- Demonstrate analytical capacity to separate legal
reasoning from political arguments and possess the ability to
argue how they interrelate in the context of EU external
relations law.
- Argue why law has such an important role in the EU as an
international actor, more so than in domestic legal systems.
- Contextualize the EU and international rules as against
the broader context of European integration and international
politics.
- Demonstrate knowledge of how external policies developed
as European integration progressed, and how this is reflected in
the EU treaties: from the Treaty of Rome to the Lisbon Treaty.
- Adopt a critical attitude to objectivity in law, and the
ability to evaluate choices of the Court of Justice, Member States
and European institutions in their historical, political, and legal
context.
- Formulate and argue in a clear and concise fashion your
legal argument on the constitutional and institutional rules
discussed in class.
Approximately 500 pages consisting of selected articles, book chapters and relevant case-law.
- A basic knowledge of EU constitutional and institutional law, as well as international public law are requisite to attaining the objectives of this course.
- Category
- Hours
- Preparation
- 241
- Seminar
- 34
- Total
- 275
Enrolling as a Single Master Level/ Credit Student:
For Single Master Level Courses – click here!
For Single-subject credit students - click here!
For further
information
- Credit
- 10 ECTS
- Type of assessment
- Oral examination, 20 minutesOral exam based on synopsis, 20 minutes
- Marking scale
- 7-point grading scale
- Censorship form
- External censorship
- Exam period
Autumn: 7. - 11. December 2015 (preliminary dates)
Spring: 6. - 10. June 2016 (preliminary dates)- Re-exam
Awaits
Course information
- Language
- English
- Course code
- JJUA54049U
- Credit
- 10 ECTS
- Level
- Full Degree MasterFull Degree Master choice
- Duration
- 1 semester
- Placement
- Autumn And Spring
- Schedule
- B2
- Continuing and further education
- Price
DKK 10.000
- Study board
- Law
Contracting department
- Law
Course responsibles
- Helle Krunke (12-526f76766f38557c7f78756f4a747f7c38757f386e75)
Lecturers
Assistant professor Roberta Mungianu