The first part of the course covers the basics of European Law. It will necessarily be incomplete; by focussing on structural and ethodological elements, however, students will be given the tools to deal broadly with issues not discussed in substance. Topics covered will include: the Union’s institutions, the different proceedings before the European Court of Justice,the relationship between European Union law and national law, and the internal market and its four fundamental freedoms.

Building thereupon, the second part of the course will highlight certain issues usually not discussed in depth. Focal points will include: external relations and the Union’s relationship to international law (e.g. the Court of Justice’s relationship to international courts), asylum and migration law (e.g. the Dublin system and its relationship to international refugee and human rights law; recent developments in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights); and the multiplication of instruments for human rights protection in the European Union (general principles, the Charter on Fundamental Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights).