OVERVIEW

This course analyzes the complex functioning of the European Union with a focus on its historical evolution, political vision and the economic equilibrium that have affected the process of integration. The EU’s laws and regulations, which have developed over the years, will also be treated.
The institutional structure and roles of individual institutions will be illustrated, along with the Union’s responsibilities, how European legislation prevails on member States’ internal laws, the monetary and economic union, as well as the main common policies and fundamental aspects linked to multilingualism and multiculturalism.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims to illustrate the role and importance of the European Union in contemporary society through the knowledge of the integration process and the analysis of the institutional structure and its functioning. Knowledge of the European Union, both in the field of international relations (multiculturalism and multilingualism) and national relations (how european law affects the political choices of Member-States), is an indispensable "added value" to be more competitive in the world of work.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The aim of the course is offering to the students a comprehensive knowledge of the European Union, from a political, historical, legal and economic perspective.

The teaching objective is to transmit to students the awareness and understanding of the “European rules” today not only relevant for living society abut also for the performance of economic activities, being every subject moving in the European space directly or indirectly the recipient of the European law system. In fact, acquiring an achieved comprehension of the functioning of the European multilateral institutions as well as of the complex relationship between European and national law rules enables to add specific competences to the mastering of foreign languages. Both represent an “added value” necessary for improving work opportunities.

Besides the deep analysis of the decision-making process and working systems of the European institutions, a specific attention will be attributed to the principal matters concerning the two basic items of multilingualism and multiculturalism. Then, a broad analysis will be devoted to questions as “the language” of the legal and administrative production of the EU, the linguistic policy, the role of translators and interpreters, the problems related to the understanding and translation of the European rules, together with the concrete cases occurred by the divergent interpretation in the different Languages of the European law. In this respect, a specific attention will be reserved to the cases-study, by examining some specific cases discussed by the Court of Justice of EU concerning contradictory interpretation and application of European rules due to linguistic reasonsCourt of Justice of EU concerning contradictory interpretation and application of European rules due to linguistic reasons.

PREREQUISITES

None. The legal and economic aspects of the process of integration and European current events will be discussed in such a way as to be understood without previous knowledge.

TEACHING METHODS

This is a course of 36 hours (during the first semester) corresponding to 6 CFU. The lessons are all in person in the classroom and online on the Microsoft Teams platform.

Attendance is not obligatory but is recommended.

Students will be asked to read and be prepared with one of the texts from the bibliography. They will also be asked to consult websites of the European institutions and keep abreast of the European Union’s activities.

With the goal of facilitating understanding the subject and stimulating students to reflect on the role of the European Union, the professor will attempt to demonstrate links between what is treated in the lessons with what is currently happening in Europe at every opportunity. 

In the historical-political part, brief films that can be downloaded at http://europa.eu and from YouTube will be used to facilitate memorization of events.  

As regards the legal part, to help students understand and analyze European texts, the professor will use Eur-Lex (the EU site that offers free consultation of all legal texts of the EU available in all official languages), which is a useful site for comparing terminology.

For the economic part, the professor will make available PowerPoint presentations and other documents created by the publications office of the European Union (may be downloaded at: https://publications.europa.eu).

Those students not attending in person may follow the course online (using Microsoft Teams) and complete their learning through Aulaweb using summaries of the lessons and summaries that have clear diagrams for easy comprehension. On Aulaweb, moreover, the students will find learning materials available for more in-depth examination in various European languages.

Additional meetings for going over specific themes shall be organized over the course of the academic year.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

As regards the historico-political part, the fundamental stages of the integration process will be analyzed in class beginning with the founding of the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community up to the current European Union. The evolution, functions and divisions of responsibility (exclusive, shared and supporting) of the institutional system are analyzed as these are key to understanding how European decisions influence Italian political decisions. Regarding the legal aspects, the course will deal with the original character of the system, the principle of precedence of European Law over that of the domestic law of States, different types of European acts (legislative and non-legislative) and their relevance. We will pay special attention to the responsibility of States regarding the violation of European obligations.

The economic aspect deals with analyzing how the single market works, the fulfillment of the four fundamental freedoms (movement of goods, people, services and capital), the creation of the economic and monetary union through the founding of the Central European Bank and the adoption of the Euro.

The course also deals with the main common policies; the content of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights; the importance of EU citizenship; the so-called additional rights and the new instrument of direct democracy, the European Citizens’ Initiative. The analysis of aspects related to multi-lingualism and multi-culturalism focuses on treaty regulations and legislature safeguarding European linguistic and cultural diversity.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

The recommended bibliography:

Edoardo Pusillo, Europa, contenuti politici, giuridici ed economici del processo di integrazione, Ed Ecig, Genova.

or

Enzo Cannizzaro, Il diritto dell’integrazione europea, Ed Giappichelli, 2022, Torino.

It is also possible download  “Fact sheets on the European Union”  to  Https://op.europa.eu/en/web/general-publications/

Recommeded book

Carlo Degli Abbati, Perché credere in questa Europa, Termanini editore, Genova, 2022.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

EDOARDO PUSILLO (President)

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Lessons (in person and online on Microsoft Teams) start Wednesday, October 12, 2022, at 8 a.m., in the Aula magna and continue on the following schedule:

WEDNESDAYS  8 a.m. - 10 a.m. in Aula magna

FRIDAYS  11 a.m. - 12 a.m. in Aula magna

Class schedule

EUROPEAN UNION LAW

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The final exam will take place in person and shall be an oral exam.

All the topics that will appear on the exam are listed in the “Exam topics” webpage available to students and that can be downloaded from the professor’s webpage or from the Aulaweb site.

In order to take the exam, students must register on the University’s website (www.studenti.unige.it / servizi online agli studenti / Gestione prenotazione esami). No other type of registration or communication is considered valid, except with proven cause. 

ASSESSMENT METHODS

During the exam, every student will answer three questions related to topics indicated in the ‘Exam topics’ webpage. The student must be able to demonstrate comprehension of the subject and be able to:

1.  illustrate the fundamental steps in the process of European integration, the political vision and the economic equilibrium that marked the evolution of the Union, and the creation of the single market (the first question focuses on a historical, political, legal or economic aspect of integration);

2. analyze the composition and powers of the European institutions as well as fundamental aspects of their functioning (the second question regards one of the European institutions);

3. demonstrate knowing how to evaluate political, economic or legal aspects of the European Union (the third question is aimed at ascertaining analytical ability, critical thinking, as regards fundamental European topics).

The final grade is based on a perfect score of 30. Each of the three questions has a grade from 0 to 10 that corresponds to the assessment of the student’s ability to satisfy the learning goals. The sum of the grades constitutes the final grade.

FURTHER INFORMATION

All information relating to the course, hours, dates of the exam, etc., is constantly updated on the professor’s webpage (https://lingue.unige.it/edoardo.pusillo%40unige.it) and on Aulaweb (https://2022.aulaweb.unige.it/course/view.php?id=3255). 

Students who have valid certification of physical or learning disabilities on file with the University and who wish to discuss possible accommodations or other circumstances regarding lectures, coursework and exams, should speak both with the instructor and with Prof. Sara Dickinson (sara.dickinson@unige.it), the Department’s disability liaison.