The Project

Objectives

Outcomes

Overview

Grantholder

Consortium members

Members from Serbia

Members from EU

Programme

First year

Second year

Third year

POGESTEI Curricula

Module 1

Module 2

Module 3

Module 4

Module 5

Documentation

POGESTEI documents

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Module 1:
FOUNDATION AND PURPOSES OF THE EU INTEGRATION (short presentation of subjects)


EUROPEAN UNION CONSTITUTIONAL LAW
 
syllabus


The aim of the European Union Constitutional Law course is to introduce students to advanced topics in the Constitutional Law of the European Union, and to do so from a multidisciplinary and contextual perspective. The course deals with the three distinctive elements of the EU legal system: the EU institutions, the EU normative system and the EU procedural law. It is based largely on the founding treaties and legislation made under the treaties, but also on the relevant case law of the European courts.

Study of the EU institutions entails in-depth education in the status, organization and the functioning of the European Parliament, Council, Commission and Controlling Bodies (Court of Justice, Court of First Instance, Court of Auditors and Ombudsman). The EU normative system covers such matters as principles of the EU law, sources of the EC law and the effects of the EC law. The course also provides for a thorough understanding of the decision making - legislative, judicial and other individual - procedures of the EU legal system: Community legislation and policy making, implementation of the Community law by the Member States, functions and jurisdiction of the European judicial system, judicial control of the EC institutions and judicial control of the Member States.

With the prospects of the gradual integration of Serbia into the EU, the course is strongly recommended to those interested to work in the public sector i.e. parliamentary bodies and offices (Office for the harmonisation of domestic and the EU legislation), related Government's bodies (Secr for Legislature and the Office for the EU association), respective Central Bank and Ministries' ofetariatfices, diplomatic positions at both national and EU institutions levels, judicial and expert advisor positions within lower and higher courts, specialized courts and the Constitutional Court, public prosecutor's and public defender's office, ombudsman's office, Chamber of Commerce, and the like.


JUDICIAL PROTECTION IN THE EU
 
syllabus

The Communities and the Union are creatures of law and are governed by law in every aspect of their operations. Since the very beginning, the Treaties have provided for the existence of the Court of Justice and have given it wide powers. Over the years, the number and importance of cases decided by the Court has been on the constant increase. Instead of turning into a classical international court dealing with member state disputes, the Court of Justice has been a forum for protection of individual rights based on Community law. It has also played a decisive role in transforming the national courts into Community courts, by introducing the doctrines of supremacy and direct effect of Community rules before national courts. Furthermore, the organization and powers of the Court of Justice present one of the best examples of the problems faced by the Community and the Union due to enlargement. The constant reform and reorganization, the changes in the Court's composition, procedure and powers, and yet the preservation of basic system of legal remedies, can be an enlightening guide to understanding the complexity of the whole process. The Court of Justice has a duty to preserve the rule of law and to ensure that the European integration is being progressively realized. It has to ensure uniform enforcement and interpretation of the legislation enacted by the legislative branch and to review the lawfulness of legislative and administrative acts of the EC and EU institutions. Knowledge of the judicial system of the European Union and the nature of judicial protection available to individuals, undertakings and member states may be of immediate use to lawyers working for domestic companies that operate on the EU markets and to professionals working in administrative authorities in charge of international trade. Eventually, as Serbia progresses along various stages of integration, the knowledge of the ECJ's judgments interpreting various Association Agreements and rights of individuals contained therein will prove to be an effective tool to all those lawyers in charge of implementation of the Agreement and harmonization of the Serbian law with the Community legislation.


INTERNATIONAL PRIVATE LAW IN THE CONTEXT OF THE EU LEGAL STRUCTURE
 syllabus

Course description: The course deals with the communitarization of private international law in the EU. Issues regarding its legal bases in the TEC, i.e. Articles 61-69 and particularly Article 65, the effects of Article 65 TEC on the legislative competence of Member States in the area of private international law and on the external relations, i.e. relations to third countries will be considered. Questions regarding the acquis communitaire in the area of private international law and the inter-relation between community law and municipal private international law of the Member States will also be addressed. Particular attention will be devoted to sources of communitarized private international law as classified by Article 65.1 - service of documents, taking of evidence, jurisdiction and recognition and enforcement of decisions in civil, commercial, matrimonial matters and matters of parental responsibility, insolvency proceedings, European enforcement order; Article 65.2 - applicable law to contractual and non-contractual obligations, divorce, matrimonial property regimes, succession; Article 65.3 - compatibility of the rules of civil procedure. Crucial issues of the Brussels I and Brussels II is, as well as the Rome Convention on the Law Applicable to Contractual Obligations will be addressed.

Teaching staff:

University of Belgrade: Professor Dr Gašo Knežević

University of Niš: Professor Dr Mirko ivković

University of Novi Sad: Professor Dr Bernadet Bordaš


LEGAL AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF THE INTEGRATION OF SERBIA IN THE EU
syllabus

The course represents one of the essential prerequisites for future and current professionals to better understand the EU and EU accession process. However, decision-making and management positions demand increasingly broad analytical skills and interdisciplinary knowledge. The course is designed with the aim of attaining two principal goals. Firstly, to provide a comprehensive background on the functioning, interrelation and rule-making processes in the EU and to examine how does this affect new member states as well as prospective member countries (with the special focus on Serbia). Countries aspiring for membership are required to accept the community heritage in full (en block) and to commence with its implementation in a short period of time, and even before they become members. This part of the course will discuss the legal harmonization and the taking-over of regulatory concepts and their consequences.

Secondly, to introduce students to fundamental economic concepts behind the EU integration process. Here, much attention will focus on the integration of economic theory with EU legal and regulatory framework in the context of EU accession. It is necessity, both for scholars and practitioners to understand costs and benefits of enlargement, the political economy and dynamics of opposition to the process, the implications of EU conditionality for the economic transition and social consequences of integration. However, the purpose of the economic part of the course is not to transform lawyers into economists, but rather to confer an additional degree of sophistication, which would allow them to 'interconnect' more easily and thus be directly useful for their later work in the EU integration process.