WG 4: Law

European Law is unique in the world because of its characteristics of supremacy over national law and direct effect. The very nature of EC law has effects that go well beyond the juridical area, going into policy making. Yet in many countries, in the beginning EC law was considered as a branch of International law (like in the Anglo-Saxon world). In Italy for instance it became a discipline of its own right only recently and in many Law faculties it is still a complementary subject. Also, the question of implementing the acquis communautaire has been crucial for the new member states and some scholars question today wether the transposition of EU law into national law took place in a adequate manner. Furthermore, the role of the Court is widely studied by lawers but its integrative effects are less known to other disciplines, say political science for instance. 50 years on from the founding of the EEC it is important to look at how the study of EC law has developed over the years, which have been the streams and most-studied topics. In particular, the research should highlight what have been the issues analysed in the different periods and if there were different developments in the national academic contexts. It is also important to focus on the main academic schools and to examine the links between the academic debate and the EU policy making. For instance – the initial reticence of the Italian Court in acknowledging the supremacy of EC law have led to a relaxed attitude to Italian negotiators in EEC law making. On the contrary countries like the UK – which joined having already clear the meaning and the implications of supremacy of EC law – have adopted a proactive negotiating style in the Council. In addition, the research should examine whether cross fertilization exists or not among the different national schools and between the different disciplines. Finally, a review of the most studied issues in Eu studies today, of the main schools, of the most influential journals and books should be traced.

WG Coordinators:

István Szilágyi – iszilagy@almos.vein.h, Pannon University

Valentino Cattelan – valentino.cattelan@uniroma2.it, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”

Meetings of the Working Group:

Meeting Location	Partners that participated	Purpose of the meeting
Forlì 16 – 18 March 2008	Pannon University, University of Maastricht, University of Pécs, Comenius University, University of Malta, School of Business Administration TURIBA, University of Rzeszow, University of Rzeszow, Eötvös Lorand University (Budapest), Riga Stradin University	WG4-Law: 1st Working Group Meeting
Rome 1-3 July 2010	University of Rome Tor Vergata, University of Maastricht, Comenius University, School of Business Administration TURIBA, University of Rzeszow, University of Rzeszow, Riga Stradin University	WG4-Law: 2nd Working Group Meeting

Publication

WG	Editors	Title	Publishing house	Date of publication
WG 4 – Law	V. Cattelan	INTEGRATION THROUGH LEGAL EDUCATION? THE ROLE OF EU LEGAL STUDIES IN SHAPING THE EU	IL MULINOIntroduction and Index of the book	Published on March 2012