RGMUIER0027.5 ECTSQ2EnglishMaster
Constitutional Law of the European Union
FaculteitFaculty of Law, Economics and Governance
NiveauMaster
Studiejaar2026-2027
Beschrijving
Course goals
After this course:
- The students are able to identify a balance and evaluate various doctrinal views and to develop their own well-substantiated views and relate these to constitutional theories on EU integration;
- The students are able to identify diverging and contrasting academic views on an issue in the literature;
- The students are able to research and analyze a substantial quantity of legal documents and sources relating to specific topics of EU constitutional law and use this analysis to put forward a particular point of view in a paper;
- The students are able to orally present the outcome of research in English;
- The students are able to review fellow students position papers and participate in academic discussion during classes.
Content
This course addresses the constitutional foundations of the European Union with a special focus on the layered structure of European constitutional law. The relations between the different layers of governance - in particular between the national level and the European level - including some attention for the international law dimension will be studied. The course is centered around the following topics:
• The constitutional foundations of the EU
• the EU’s legislative powers;
• executive powers in the EU;
• the judicial powers in the EU and the interpretation of EU law
• protection of EU values
• democracy and human rights as EU values
• the rule of law and protection of the Union budget
Each week a guiding lecture is organized in which the main issues of the week are identified, structured and discussed on the basis of a number of wide ranging doctrinal, legislative and case law texts. The weekly seminars further elaborate specific issues within the general themes of the week.
The course is aimed at providing the student with a profound insight in and understanding of the constitutional foundations of the EU legal order. Next, the course is specifically designed for students to develop a critical attitude to the developments in EU constitutional law. To that end, the students are confronted with contrasting views in legal doctrine which they will evaluate, balance and apply to concrete legal situations. Moreover, such views are to be grounded in and confronted with constitutional theories on EU integration.
Argumentation skills are, thus, a key element of the course. The students engage in research on a particular topic on which they write a paper the purpose of which is to set up a concise argumentation in which they critically assess the existing legal framework and the available comments in legal doctrine. The findings of this research are to be presented in the research seminars at the end of the course on the basis of a draft paper on which the students will receive feedback from one of their peers.
The third element of the course concerns the confrontation with practice. A central idea within this course is that the constitutional foundations of the EU is not just of general and theoretical relevance, but directly affects professionals working in an EU law context. Guest lectures will be involved, which enable the students to engage in a discussion, to test the insights they have acquired and to find out the meaning of the developments in EU constitutional law to the everyday practice.
• The constitutional foundations of the EU
• the EU’s legislative powers;
• executive powers in the EU;
• the judicial powers in the EU and the interpretation of EU law
• protection of EU values
• democracy and human rights as EU values
• the rule of law and protection of the Union budget
Each week a guiding lecture is organized in which the main issues of the week are identified, structured and discussed on the basis of a number of wide ranging doctrinal, legislative and case law texts. The weekly seminars further elaborate specific issues within the general themes of the week.
The course is aimed at providing the student with a profound insight in and understanding of the constitutional foundations of the EU legal order. Next, the course is specifically designed for students to develop a critical attitude to the developments in EU constitutional law. To that end, the students are confronted with contrasting views in legal doctrine which they will evaluate, balance and apply to concrete legal situations. Moreover, such views are to be grounded in and confronted with constitutional theories on EU integration.
Argumentation skills are, thus, a key element of the course. The students engage in research on a particular topic on which they write a paper the purpose of which is to set up a concise argumentation in which they critically assess the existing legal framework and the available comments in legal doctrine. The findings of this research are to be presented in the research seminars at the end of the course on the basis of a draft paper on which the students will receive feedback from one of their peers.
The third element of the course concerns the confrontation with practice. A central idea within this course is that the constitutional foundations of the EU is not just of general and theoretical relevance, but directly affects professionals working in an EU law context. Guest lectures will be involved, which enable the students to engage in a discussion, to test the insights they have acquired and to find out the meaning of the developments in EU constitutional law to the everyday practice.
Place of the course within the curriculum:
- Compulsory course in the major of the master European Law
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