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Jean Monnet Seminar Series 2007-2008
The Reform Treaty: The Implications
16th January 2008 - "From
Constitutional Treaty to Reform Treaty: Constitutionalism in the European
Union from an American Perspective" This
first seminar in this year's series is given by Prof. Timothy S. Boylan,
Associate Professor of Political Science, Winthrop University, South Carolina.
This seminar examines Europe's process of constitution making: framing,
enacting, and ratification through the perspective of the American founding
and history. It focuses on the principal preconditions for framing
a workable charter of government and the incentives, both positive and
negative, for its approval by the people and their elected representatives.
A study of the similarities with and contrasts between the European and
American experiences points to key areas: the composition and nature of
the audience, the size and complexity of the document, and the procedures
for ratification, that could either limit or nullify the European Union's
latest attempt to approve a framework treaty.
Read
the Paper
6th March 2008 - "The Treaty of Lisbon: Intergovernmentalism Resurgent, Constitutionalism Moribund?" Prof. Michael Dougan, Jean Monnet Chair Professor in EU Law at the University of Liverpool addressed two main issues in the seminar.
First, the idea of "intergovernmentalism resurgent": having reaffirmed their role as "Masters of the Treaties," how far will the Member States capitalise on this renewed potency in the daily functioning of the Union Institutions (for example, in relations between European Council and Commission in setting the Union's strategic agenda, or between drafting conventions and IGCs in the process of future Treaty amendment?)
Second, the risk of "constitutionalism
moribund": having rejected at the highest political level an expressly
"constitutional basis" for the integration process, how far will the ratification
crisis and the Treaty of Lisbon affect the Union's character as an organisation
based on the rule and protection of individual rights, and influence ongoing
debates about the constitutional character of European integration.
Read
the Paper
5th June 2008
- "Will Competition Destroy the
European Social Model? The Effects of the Treaty of Lisbon"
Prof. Erika Szyszczak, Jean Monnet
Professor of European Law at the University of Leicester looked at recent
developments in case law and legislation where opportunist litigants have
used the free movement and competition rules to challenge the traditional
State welfare models (for example, in healthcare, social security, postal
services) and the response from the EU in the form of soft and hard law,
the creation of universal service programmes in the liberalisation processes
alongside new institutional models for managing the differences between
the Member States.
The seminar asked if the Commission’s
new models of “Citizens’ Rights” could be seen as new forms of “Citizenship”
rights, or are we moving towards a model of “Consumer-Citizenship” in the
EU? If this is the case what is the role of the welfare state in Europe,
what role can fundamental rights play and what would be the impact (if
at all) of the Treaty of Lisbon in creating a set of values for the Union
and the effect of absorbing competition into the Internal Market programme?
9th June 2008 -
"The Treaty of Lisbon: Some Human Rights Issues"
Prof. Robin C.A. White, Head of
Department of Law at the University of Leicester. The Treaty of Lisbon
would commit the European Union to accession to the European Convention
on Human Rights, and give the Charter of Fundamental Rights legal status.
This could be viewed as a Union coming of age as a human rights organisation.
However, the Union’s relationship both with the Member States in the field
of the protection of human rights and with the Court of Human Rights in
adjudication of its performance as a human rights organisation is likely
to be problematic. Both the Luxembourg Court and the Strasbourg Court are
likely to find the implementation of the new regime troublesome.
Read
the Paper
19th June 2008
- "The End of the Affair: the Treaty of Lisbon and the Final Provisions
of the Treaty Establishing the European Community and the Treaty on European
Union"
Dr Gavin Barrett, Senior Lecturer
at the School of Law at University
College Dublin argues that some
of the most important stipulations in the constitutive treaties of the
European Union – which are also known as the Treaty on European Union,
and (at least for now) the Treaty Establishing the European Community -
are to be found in their so-called final provisions. If and when the Treaty
of Lisbon comes into force, these ‘final provisions’ could be amended so
as to facilitate the introduction of some highly significant reforms.
Among the resulting reforms could
be (1) the express conferring of legal personality on the European Union,
(2) the introduction of procedures for amending the constitutive treaties,
(3) the facilitation of member states that wish to leave the union, (4)
the expansion of the role of the European Court of Justice and (5) the
amendment of the so-called ‘flexibility’ clause. The purpose of this paper
is to examine the nature of these highly significant envisaged amendments.
The prospect of the coming into force of several of them (in particular,
the introduction of a treaty amendment procedure and to a lesser extent
the role of the European Court of Justice and the conferring of legal personality
on the European Union) has played a prominent role in the popular debate
surrounding the referendum on whether or not Ireland should ratify the
Treaty of Lisbon.
Read
the Paper
8th July 2008
- “The Future Of Citizenship in the European Union: With or Without Lisbon”
Speaker: Prof. Jo Shaw, Salvesen
Chair of European Institutions and co-ordinator of the Europa Institute,
Edinburgh Law School, University of Edinburgh
Venue: Mikiel Anton Vassalli Lecture
Centre (Gateway Building), Hall E, University of Malta
21st December 2006 - "The
Constitutional Treaty: Resuscitation, Long Term Hibernation or Death?"
This first seminar in this series was given by Prof. Jo Shaw, Salvesen
Chair of European Institutions, University of Edinburgh, Senior Research
Fellow at the Federal Trust for Education and Research, London.
In the light of a new push for
a Constitutional Treaty after the failure to ratify such in France and
the Netherlands. Malta has ratified but many have not.
Read the paper:
English
version
Maltese
version
29th March 2007-"The Social
Model in France and Europe". The European Documentation and Research
Centre (EDRC) in conjunction with the Malta European Studies Association
(MESA) and with the kind assistance of the French Embassy in Malta organised
this second lecture given by Prof. Pierre Mazière, Professor
at Université Paris V1.
Read
the paper
1st June 2007- "Balancing European
and National Interests: The Draft Constitutional Treaty as a Federal Compromise"
This lecture was given by Prof.
Constantine A. Stephanou, Jean Monnet Chair of European Organisation, Panteion
University, Athens
Read
the paper
19th July 2007 - " A Constitution
or just another Treaty for the EU?" This paper was presented at an
EDRC/MESA Seminar by Prof. John A. Usher
Read
the paper
A Selection of Papers for use in connection with the 2006/07 Lecture Series
List
of Seminars - Jean Monnet Seminar Series 2001-2006
This page was last updated on: 24
th June 2008