Corsi di Studio del Dipartimento di Giurisprudenza

Knowledge of both EU Law and International Law (general courses). Good command of English, both written and spoken.

The external action of the European Union has consistently grown in scope and relevance over time and is today an essential component of many an EU policy. The European Union acts in the international arena on a wide variety of matters (trade, environment, development cooperation, human rights, foreign and defence policy...) and by different means (unilateral acts, treaties, participation in international organizations, field missions...), often through or alongside its Member States. Such activity affects the life of the international society and the Member States' exercise of external and internal sovereignty.

The course aims at enabling students to know and understand the legal underpinnings of EU external action from the intertwined perspectives of EU law and international institutional law. When it acts externally and internally, the EU is bound by international legal rules, on the one hand, and contributes to shape and develop them, on the other hand. At the same time, international institutional law itself acknowledges that the internal rules of an international organization (here, the EU) affect the fields of action and the means whereby the organization participates in the life of the international society. 

On completion of the course, students are expected to have a good knowledge and understanding of the legal aspects of the EU external relations, the interaction of EU law with international law, the contribution of the case law. Students should be able to critically analyse legal problems of EU external relations, identifying theoretical issues and discussing their application in actual cases.

For students attending the course, the topics included in the programme will be addressed through lectures and the discussion in class of study materials (regularly made available on Moodle).

The teaching blocks will be organised through a blend of different components: live sessions for lectures and interaction with students, individual study of materials. Students attending the course are expected to attend class regularly and read the relevant materials in advance of each lecture.

It is imperative that students wishing to attend the course enrol in the teaching platform (Moodle) prior to the beginning of the course, to have full access to materials and communications.

Non-attending students shall prepare the exam on one of the recommended textbooks (see bibliography section below).

For attending students, the final grade will consist of the weighted average of the following components:

1. Participation in class (20%), evaluated based on attendance and participation in class discussion.
2. Final written exam (80%).

The final exam will consist of: (1) multiple-choice questions; (2) one essay question; (3) one short case study. The exam will be paper-based and last 90 minutes.

For non-attending students, the final written exam will count for 100% of the grade.

Office hours will be held upon appointment (lorenza.mola@unito.it, alberto.miglio@unito.it).

The programme consists of the following modules:

1) Introduction: Foreign relations law as a field of scholarship: the peculiarities of EU external relations law; Foundations of EU External Relations Law: EU's international legal personality; values; principles; objectives

2) EU external competence: existence, nature, scope;

3) Tools of EU external action: EU institutions' powers; conclusion of international agreements; participation in international organizations; conduct of diplomatic and consular relations-

4) EU law and international law: customary international law and international agreements concluded by the EU in the EU legal order; relations with and impact on international agreements of the Member States; international responsibility of the EU and international dispute settlement.

5) Selected topics: statehood and territorial situations; Common Commercial Policy; Common Foreign and Security Policy.

For students attending class, only materials uploaded on Moodle and class notes.

For students not attending class, one of the following textbooks is recommended for preparation for the exam:

1. J. Wouters, F. Hoffmeister, G. De Baere, and T. Ramopoulos, The Law of EU External Relations. Cases, Materials and Commentary on the EU as an International Legal Actor, OUP, 2021, all chapters except for 6, 8, 9.

2. R. Wessel, J. Larik (Eds), EU External Relations Law. Text, Cases and Materials, Hart, 2020, all chapters except for 8, 10, 11, 13, 14.

Knowledge of international law and EU law is a pre-requisite. Knowledge of international institutional law is recommended.
All lectures will be in English.
Attendance is optional but recommended. For attending students, regular, active attendance will count for 20% of the final grade.
Students wishing to attend the course must enrol on the teaching platform (Moodle) prior to the beginning of the course.

 

GIU0825A - course unit of GIU0825 Advanced EU Law (TAF B) - I year

GIU0726 - free choice course (TAF D) - "Free from year course"

If the Combined Course GIU0825 is listed in your Study plan, its single course units can not be selected as "Free choice" courses (TAF D) and vice versa.