Public Participation in the Institutions of the European Union

This course aims at analysing those rights linked to European citizenship, and also for people residing in the EU territory. It will explore case-law developed by the Court of Justice of the European Union, as well as the tools available for civil society to participate in the policies and decision-making processes in the EU. It will also provide more understanding on the means of communication that EU citizens and residents within the EU have before the institutions of the European Union for expressing their opinion, practical needs and concerns.

During the course, students will carry out different types of activities. A large part of the learning is acquired outside the classroom, through the autonomous study of the student. This study is complemented with the reading of texts and case-law, as well as the preparation and writing of assignments and activities.

Class attendance is essential because there will be several theoretical sessions, necessary for developing the assignments and activities. In addition, a large part of these activities is performed in class hours, and consist of the participation in debates, solving questions related to case-law or texts previously read, and also giving oral presentations.

Public Participation in the Institutions of the European Union
Week	Contents	Teaching/learning activities
1	Concept and limits of European citizenship Political rights of European citizens	1. The concept and origin of the term “citizenship” 2. History of EU citizenship 3. Legal basis of EU citizenship in the Lisbon Treaty & secondary legislation on EU citizenship 4. Protection of EU citizens beyond the EU borders 5. Treatment of third-country nationals in the EU 6. Case-law on EU citizenship 7. The right to vote in the EU 8. Participation of the EU citizens in the European Parliament elections 9. Assignment 1 on European citizenship
2	The powers and functions of the European Parliament The role of national parliaments in the EU Referendums on EU issues	1. Secretariat of the European Parliament & Members of the European Parliament 2. Members of the political groups 3. Parliamentary Committees 4. Functions of the European Parliament. 5. Origins and tasks of the participation of national parliaments 6. The subsidiarity principle 7. Stages of the preventive control on the legislative procedure 8. Membership referendums, referendums on the ratification of Treaties & referendums on EU policies. 9. Assignment 2 on national parliaments or Brexit
3	The EU citizens' initiative in the Treaty of Lisbon The participation of civil society: The European Economic and Social Committee Petitions and complaints of EU citizens	1. Phases of the EU citizens' initiative procedure. 2. Successful European Citizens’ Initiatives to date 3. The Regulation on European Citizens’ Initiative 4. Objectives, members and presidency of the EESC 5. The right to petition before the European Parliament 6. The European Ombudsman 7. Assignment 3 on EU citizens' initiative

The evaluation will consist of 5 different activities:

Three assignments to be conducted and submitted in class (20% each) at the end of each week

Submission of all class activities (20%)

Attendance and participation in class (20%).

The dates for the 3 assignments are 23 June, 30 June and 7 July 2023.

Students who for justifiable reasons have not been able to submit one of the three assignments on the specific date, may have the possibility to do an extra activity under the criteria indicated by the lecturer. The conditions of eligibility for this extra activity are strict and decided on a case-by-case basis. A student who cheats or tries to cheat in an exam will be given a 0. A student who submits a paper or a practical exercise in which evidence of plagiarism can be identified will be given a 0 and will receive a warning. The material and language of the course is English.

Mandatory:

Cristina Blasi Casagran, "Handbook on public participation in the institutions of the European Union" (3rd edition), Servei de Publicacions UAB (Bellaterra: 2020), ISBN 978-84-490-8523-9

Recommended:

Elspeth Guild and Valsamis Mitsilegas, "Immigration and Asylum Law and Policy in Europe", Brill | Nijhoff, Boston, Massachusetts (USA), April 2015, ISSN: 1568-2749
David M. Farrell and Roger Scully, "Representing Europe's Citizens? Electoral Institutions and the Failure of Parliamentary Representation", Oxford University Press, May 2007, ISBN: 9780199285020
Ulrike Liebert, Alexander Gattig and Tatjana EVAS, "Democratising the EU from Below? Citizenship, Civil Society and the Public Sphere", Ashgate, 2013, ISBN 9781472408303
Fernando Mendez, Mario Mendez and Vasiliki Triga, "Referendums and the European Union. A Comparative Inquiry", Cambridge Studies in European Law and Policies, June 2014, ISBN: 9781107034044
The European Ombudsman: Origins, Establishment, Evolution, Dictus Publishing, December 2010, ISBN-10: 3843343403.
Cristina Blasi Casagran, Global data protection in the field of law enforcement: An EU perspective, Routledge. Taylor & Francis Group, Oxfordshire, UK, June 2016.
Kristine Kruma, "EU Citizenship, Nationality and Migrant Status: An Ongoing Challenge", Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2013.
Gregorio Garzón Clariana, "El control parlamentario del ejecutivo en la Unión Europea" F. Pau i Vall (coord..): El control del Gobierno en democracia, Madrid, Tecnos, 2013, p. 19-40.
Gregorio Garzón Clariana, "Les droits politiques des citoyens de l'Europe: les vingt premières années", ERA Forum (2013) p. 545-567.

Dr Cristina Blasi is Assistant Professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). She is a researcher and lecturer of EU Law and Public Participation in the EU institutions in the Law Faculty. After she completed her Law Degree in 2007, she completed a Masters degree on EU integration (Barcelona, 2008), a LL.M. on EU Law (Saarland, 2009) and a LL.M on Comparative, European and International Laws (Florence, 2011). She completed her Ph.D. in Law at the European University Institute (Florence, 2015), in which she specialised on EU privacy and data protection law. As for her professional experience, she carried out paid internships at the Legal Service of the European Commission (2010), the European Supervisor of Data Protection (2012) and Europol (2013). Dr Blasi has 10 years of teaching experience to undergraduate and graduate students at several universities, and she is currently coordinating the H2020 project “IT methods and tools for managing migration FLOWS” (ITFLOWS), and the Erasmus+ Jean Monnet Module “EUCONAS”.

E-mail: cristina.blasi@uab.cat

Mrs Lidia Ballesta is a pre-doctoral researcher and lecturer at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) since September 2016. She is a researcher and lecturer on EU matter as the Law Faculty. After she completed her Law Degree in 2009, she completed a Master degree on EU integration (Barcelona, 2012) She is currently working on her Ph.D. in Law at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) in which her main research field is the EU Law. As for her professional experience, she carried out an internship at the Spanish Desk of Eurojust (2010). She has been working as a lawyer since 2010, becoming for 2015 and 2016 Legal Manager of an Music Publishing Company dealing with copyright and licensing issues all over the globe.

E-mail: lidia.ballesta@uab.cat
Department of Public Law and Historico-Legal Scienes

Public Participation in the Institutions of the European Union

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