Master of European Legal Studies - MELS Online

• Bachelor degree or an equivalent educational level (in law, political science, economics, European studies or other fields)
• An active knowledge of English or French, with at least a passive knowledge of the other language

The programme is designed to achieve two principal aims: to provide an initial background to the fundamental issues underlying the European integration process and to offer progressive and increasing specialisation in the vast field of European law, with a view to enabling students to deal with legal questions in a practical way.

The legal focus of the programme is on the broader ambit of European integration, also touching upon different economic and political aspects of the integration process and duly considering their legal and practical implications. Master of European Legal Studies is a truly international study programme offered in partnership with the Université de Lorraine in France. Participants who successfully conclude the programme are awarded a French Master degree: Master en études européennes – Spécialité Droit de l‘Union européenne.

First academic year

• European integration process and its history.
• Constitutional European law - EU legal system, institutional law, decision-making processes and system of judicial remedies.
• EU substantive law - the four freedoms and competition law.
• Policies related to the internal market - EMU, company and tax law, public procurement.
• Current challenges and future prospects of the EU (including Brexit).

Second academic year

• Implementation of EU law at European and national levels - EU administrative law, including the system of implementing and delegated acts.
• Other policies related to single market - environmental law, intellectual property, electronic communications and social and labour law.
• Human rights protection in Europe.
• Area of Freedom Security and Justice.
• Role of the EU as an international actor.

The Master studies are structured in the form of a 2-year programme. The first year provides the students with an introduction to the field of European studies (introduction to European geopolitics, history of the process of European integration, etc.). On that basis, the legal dimension of the process of European integration is progressively developed through substantial courses on the constitutional and legal system of the EU (institutional law, EU decision-making procedures, judicial system of the EU, etc.), the European Internal Market and the fundamental aspects of European economic law (competition law, EU company and tax law, etc.).

In the second academic year, after considering a number of other fundamental aspects within the legal core of the EU, and which originated as flanking policies to the Internal Market (intellectual property law, consumer protection law, environmental law, etc), attention will shift to the legal acquits already existing in other areas, including common foreign and security policy, the area of justice, freedom and security and human rights protection at EU level. The practical implementation of European law both at European and national level will also feature in this second year.

The programme spans two years and is based on a combination of teaching methodologies.
First, students attend face-to-face lectures and tutorials using interactive education methods such as group work, case studies, simulation exercises.

Students are required to sit examinations at the end of each semester. Students will have a possibility to choose the language in which they will write the exam. Some exams may be replaced by other interim course work.

French Master degree: Master en études européennes – Spécialité Droit de l‘Union européenne