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-Understand the legal framework and institutional structures of the European Union.- -Analyze the fundamental treaties that constitute the legal basis of the European Union. -Examine the decision-making process within European institutions and its impact on member states. -Identify and explain the competences of the European Union and how they are exercised through its various organs and institutions. -Assess European Union policies and their implementation into the national law of member states. -Discuss the role of European Union Law in the international context and its relationship with other organizations and states outside the Union. -Develop critical and argumentative skills in analyzing the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union.

LESSON 1. THE HISTORICAL PROCESS OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION. The idea of Europe in history. The creation of the European Communities and their evolution: the successive amendments to the founding treaties and the enlargement process. Brexit. LESSON 2. THE EUROPEAN UNION. General characteristics. Objectives, principles, and values. Accession to the European Union. Withdrawal from the Treaties. LESSON 3. THE INSTITUTIONAL SYSTEM OF THE EUROPEAN UNION (I). General Considerations. The European Commission. The Council. The European Council. LESSON 4. THE INSTITUTIONAL SYSTEM OF THE EUROPEAN UNION (II). The European Parliament. The Court of Justice of the European Union. The European Central Bank. Other bodies. LESSON 5. THE LEGAL ORDER OF THE EUROPEAN UNION (I). Specificities. The primary law. The institutional law of the EU: general issues; typical binding acts - regulation, directive, and decision - and atypical ones; non-binding acts. LESSON 6. THE LEGAL ORDER OF THE EUROPEAN UNION (II). The principles of European Union Law in its relations with domestic legal systems: the principle of autonomy, the principle of direct effect, and the principle of the primacy of Union Law. LESSON 7. EUROPEAN CITIZENSHIP AND FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS. The status of Union citizenship: origin, meaning, and content. Human rights and fundamental freedoms in the EU: the jurisprudential construction of their protection, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, and the issue of the European Union's accession to the European Convention on Fundamental Rights. LESSON 8. THE AREA OF FREEDOM, SECURITY, AND JUSTICE. Origins and evolution of the Area of Freedom, Security, and Justice. The objectives. Areas of cooperation: police and customs cooperation, judicial cooperation, asylum and immigration, the fight against terrorism, and transnational organized crime. LESSON 9. THE EXTERNAL ACTION OF THE EUROPEAN UNION (I). The international subjectivity of the European Union. Main manifestations of the international legal personality of the European Union: special attention to the capacity to conclude international agreements. The external competences of the European Union. LESSON 10. THE EXTERNAL ACTION OF THE EUROPEAN UNION (II). The High Representative and the European External Action Service. The European Union's model of external action. Trade policy. Development cooperation policy. The European Union's external action and human rights. LESSON 11. THE EXTERNAL ACTION OF THE EUROPEAN UNION (III). The Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). The European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP). The EU's External Missions. The European Union's neighborhood policy. EU relations with the United States and Latin America. LESSON 12. THE INTERNAL MARKET. The freedoms of movement of goods, services, capital, and people. The Schengen Area. LESSON 13. THE ECONOMIC AND MONETARY UNION. The history of European monetary cooperation. The creation of the Economic and Monetary Union: stages and convergence criteria. The functioning of the EMU. Problems and shortcomings of the EMU. LESSON 14. THE EUROPEAN UNION AS A PHENOMENON OF PARTIAL SOLIDARITY IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS. Regional and cohesion policies. Social policy. Other policies reflecting solidarity. Openness to civil society. The EU and democracy.

The methodology of this course integrates theoretical lectures, case study analysis, class debates, and research assignments. Active student participation will be encouraged to develop critical and argumentative skills. The University's regulations regarding face-to-face sessions will be applied.