European Union Internal Market

All law students are welcome. Previous knowledge of EU institutional law is preferable though not required. Previous knowledge of EU substantive law is helpful though not required. The course is designed for students already familiar with the basics of EU substantive law (especially those who took the subject). However, it remains accessible for those who meet EU substantive law for the first time. Students of subjects other than law are welcome provided they have basic understanding of legal concepts and language as well as of the EU.

The course is all about the internal market as the core of EU law. It may be understood as an intermediate step between courses in EU substantive law and master seminars. The major part of the course is the “four freedoms”: free movement of persons (including workers), goods, services, and capital, as well as freedom of establishment. As a bonus, the course will explain to you why the count of these elements is four. This is accompanied by classes in EU competition law, citizenship, development of the internal market, as well as judicial protection. In total, these give a comprehensive description of the functioning of EU economic law, both from the point of view of EU citizens and a businessmen engaging in commercial transactions (or their lawyers).

All courses are lectures mixed with workshops. This means that we do not ask questions to students, we do not refer students to office hours etc. We do, however, encourage participation: discussions, joint working on cases, and questions from the students. The substantive scope of the subjects is given in detail on their respective USOS pages. Below, there is a brief summary:

The Four Freedoms discusses the free movement of workers, goods, capital, and services, as well as the freedom of establishment. The free movement of non-economic migrants is less detailed, as it is largely cover by the course in EU citizenship (see below). This is the course to discuss advanced concepts of the substantive law as well as newest cases and freshly proposed legislation.

EU Competition Law is a practically oriented course in anti-competitive agreements and abuses of a dominant position. The aim is twofold: to gain understanding of the economic foundations of competition law as well as to gain basic skill allowing for applying competition law in legal practice. Also, it is not true that the lecturer eats students alive.

EU Citizenship deals with perhaps the hottest topic in contemporary EU law. From social tourism to marriage equality to invoking EU law against one’s own country, the great questions of our time are answered from the point of view of EU citizenship.

The Development of the Internal Market is a short glimpse of EU history. It explains why we have the contemporary arrangement in the EU. What purpose the legal institutions serve. What is the aim of the internal market. As a bonus, the course provides an elegant background of previous integration projects; knowledge perfectly suitable for shining in the high society as well as for understanding the present in its proper context.

Judicial Protection in the EU is about the remedies. What should we do when one of the rights we learned about in the previous courses is disregarded? What is more efficient for our client: to go to the domestic court or to complain to the Commission? How to write a statement of claim for damages from the State Treasury to satisfy both Polish and EU requirements? This course is both about the institutional framework in which lawyers work – responsible bodies and division of competences about them – and about the forms of judicial protection: the appropriate legal actions and their requirements.

Specific to individual courses. Compulsory readings are generally avoided. Recommended readings common to all courses include:

Craig & de Burca: EU Law,

Barnard: The Substantive Law of the EU,

Weatherill: Law and Values in the European Union.

Specific to individual courses. In total, the student should acquire a full and deep understanding of the functioning of the internal market. In addition, the knowledge as well as the practical skills passed during the courses are applicable in day-to-day practice of commercial and administrative law.

Specific to individual courses.

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