Guía docente de The Institutional and Legal System of the European Union (MQ1/56/1/4)

• Evolution of the European Communities and the European Union
• Institutional structure of the European Union
• The European Union legal system
• European Union Policies
• The external action of the European Union

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The main objectives are as follows:

1. To enable students to acquire theoretical and practical knowledge that allows them to analyze and understand the phenomenon of the European Union, its institutions, and its legal framework, within the context of the current international reality.
2. To develop students' ability to construct, present, and defend reasoned legal-international arguments in an ethical, honest, and coherent manner, demonstrating intellectual independence, scientific rigor, and a critical commitment to reality.

• Unit 1. The Evolution of European Integration
• Unit 2. The Constitutional Framework of the European Union:
  • European Union: between aims, values and principles
  • The EU conferral: types and exercise of EU competences
  • The EU institutional system: institutional balance and loyal cooperation
  • EU and Member States 
• Unit 3. EU Institutions and Bodies
  • EU institutions
  • Other EU bodies and agencies
  • Legislative procedures
• Unit 4. The EU legal system
  • The EU Treaties and secondary law
  • EU law and domestic orders: primacy, direct effect, and State liability
  • Judicial protection of EU Law
  • Fundamental Rights and Citizenship in the EU
• Unit 5. EU Policies
  • Transversal policies
  • Internal market; Economic and Monetary Union; Economic and Social Cohesion
  • Competition law; State aids; Common policies
  • The Area of Freedom, Security and Justice
  • Other EU policies and areas
• Unit 6. The EU as an international actor
  • EU External Action
  • External relations
  • European Foreign and Defense policy

Seminars/Workshops

• UK and the EU
• The respect for the rule of law in the EU
• EU law and Member State Constitutions
• Same-sex marriages and EU law
• EU policies
• EU strategic autonomy and Ukrainian War

REQUIRED READING:

• SCHÜTZE, R.: An Introduction to European Law, 4th ed, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2023.
• BARNARD, C.; PEERS, S.: European Union Law, 4th ed, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2023.

RECOMMENDED READING:

• MANGAS MARTÍN, A.; LIÑÁN NOGUERAS, D.J: Instituciones y Derecho de la Unión Europea, 11th ed, Tecnos, Madrid, 2024.
• SARMIENTO, D.: Curso de Derecho de la Unión Europea, Marcial Pons, Madrid, 2024.
• SARMIENTO, D.: Derecho de la Unión Europea, 4th ed, Marcial Pons, Madrid, 2022.
• BLUMAN, C.: Droit institutionnel de l’Union européenne, 8th ed, L.G.D.J., Paris, 2023.
• BARNARD, C.: The Substantive Law of the EU – The Four Freedoms, 7th ed, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2022.
• BERRY, E. et al: Complete EU law, 5th ed, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2022.
• CRAIG, P.; DE BURCA, G.: The Evolution of EU Law, 3rd ed, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2021.
• CRAIG, P.; DE BURCA, G.: EU Law. Text, Cases, and Materials, 7th ed, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2020.
• SALINAS DE FRÍAS, A. (dir): Basic Concepts of EU Law, Tirant lo Blanch, Valencia, 2020.
• CINI, M.; PÉREZ-SOLÓRZANO, N. (eds): European Union Politics, 7th ed, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2022.
• KENEALY, D. et al (eds): The European Union – How does it work?, 6th ed, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2022.

• The European Union https://european-union.europa.eu/index_en
• European Union Law https://eur-lex.europa.eu/homepage.html?locale=en
• The Court of Justice of the European Union https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/j_6/en/

Article 17 of the UGR Assessment Policy and Regulations establishes that the ordinary assessment session (convocatoria ordinaria) will preferably be based on the continuous assessment of students, except for those who have been granted the right to a single final assessment (evaluación única final), which is an assessment method that only takes a final exam into account.

The continuous assessment will comprise:

• Student commitment and active participation to the course lessons (50%)
• Student participation to the seminars and other activities of the practical syllabus (30%)
• Written Exam or Essay (20%)

Article 19 of the UGR Assessment Policy and Regulations establishes that students who have not passed a course in the ordinary assessment session (convocatoria ordinaria) will have access to an extraordinary assessment session (convocatoria extraordinaria). All students may take part in this extraordinary assessment session, regardless of whether or not they have followed continuous assessment activities. In this way, students who have not carried out continuous assessment activities will have the opportunity to obtain 100% of their mark by means of an exam and/or assignment.

The assessment will comprise:

• A written exam concerning the entire theoretical programme (70%)
• A small essay regarding a subject-matter of the practical programme (30%)

Article 8 of the UGR Assessment Policy and Regulations establishes that students who are unable to follow continuous assessment methods due to justifiable reasons shall have recourse to a single final assessment (evaluación única final), which is an assessment method that only takes a final exam into account.

In order to opt for a single final assessment (evaluación única final), students must send a request, using the corresponding online procedure, to the coordinator of the master’s programme, in the first two weeks of the course or in the two weeks following their enrolment (if the enrolment has taken place after the classes have already begun). The coordinator will communicate this information to the relevant teaching staff members, citing and verifying the reasons why the student is unable to follow the continuous assessment system.

In this case, the assessment will comprise:

• A written exam concerning the entire theoretical programme (70%)
• A small essay regarding a subject-matter of the practical programme (30%)

TEACHING METHODOLOGY

• Save exceptional instances, teaching lessons will follow a problem-solving methodology. Students will be asked to do some readings and research to give a provisional answer to a problem previously posed or to form an opinion on a specific matter.
• Students will engage in different activities (ranging from a further dialogue or opinions exchange to cooperative work, from revising their own arguments and rebutting others’ to seeking a common ground or exploring new dimensions) in the classroom.
• Those activities will conform the portfolio for continuous assessment purposes.
• The teaching methodology of seminars and workshops in the practical syllabus will be adapted to the pace and development of the course.