The course aims at providing a deep knowledge of the national and the European Union judicial and procedural frameworks designed to enforce and put into action and in practice EU law. Special attention will be drawn on the general principles and doctrines governing the relationship between the CJEU and domestic courts, as well as on the procedures that individuals (natural and legal persons) shall comply with in order to invoke EU rights before national and EU Courts. In dealing with these judicial procedures, the course will combine few theoretical lectures with a practical teaching method by looking at significant case studies. In this vein, it will benefit from seminars held by Visiting Professors and Guest Lecturers.

Knowledge and understanding: Students will acquire a specific knowledge on how, in practice, to enforce EU law before national and EU courts as well as on the main issues of EU procedural law. This goal will be achieved through the analysis of several case studies raising issue of EU law when EU rights and remedies are stake and EU substantive law is concerned (internal market, fundamental rights, competition law, environmental and energy law, etc.). The acquisition of these skills will be tested during class discussions throughout the course as well as in the final exam, which will be consist in a research paper. Applying knowledge and understanding: Students will be able to handle and apply the norms and principles governing the relationships between national and the Union judicial and procedural frameworks, also when facing real cases. Moreover, they will be able to identify the different proceedings available to enforce EU law in real life scenarios and to understand the most suitable one in real life scenarios. The acquisition of these skills will be tested during class discussions throughout all the course as well as in the final exam, which will be consist in a research paper. Making judgments: Students will be able to understand and analyze in a critical way the Union judicial protection systems and the interplay between this latter and the national level against the backdrop of the general principles and doctrines governing these systems. In addition, the analysis of the ECJ case law and case studies will significantly enhance the development of a critical thinking. It is expected that students’ critical thinking skills will benefit from both dealing with case studies and taking seminars held by leading practitioners. Communication skills: Students will learn an appropriate legal vocabulary and gain appropriate communication skills in the field of EU law and most notably in relation to the judicial procedures to enforce EU law. This will be achieved through the analysis of both legal sources and case law, the in-class discussions, and the students’ presentations envisaged during the course. As for the written communication skills, the final exam, which will be consist in a research paper, will allow students to improve their written communication skills too. Learning skills: Skills acquired during the course will allow students to understand and interpret autonomously the forthcoming legislation and EU case law as well as to approach real cases and disputes adopting the EU law expert’s standpoint. Moreover, students will develop a sound knowledge of the key topics of EU judicial system and procedural law, which will help them to both deepen their studies in this field and to undertake different professional paths after the completion of their studies in almost any professions requiring the understanding of how EU law works in practice and how it can be enforced. Career opportunities include, but are not limited to: transnational law firms; transnational corporations; national judiciary; European Union; Member States’ ministries; regulatory agencies; and NGOs.

The course constitutes the completion of the EU institutional law course, and it is aimed at putting in practice the key issues analyzed in that course. Topics will include, but are not limited to: the judicial avenues and proceedings before both domestic courts and the CJEU; primacy, direct effect, and consistent interpretation and their functioning before domestic courts; the principle of (national) procedural autonomy; the preliminary reference proceedings; state liability; the infringement procedure; the action for annulment and the objection of illegality; the action for failure to act; the EU contractual liability and EU extra-contractual liability; and the international agreements before the CJEU.

Judgments, articles, and case-notes will be circulated amongst students. In addition to the mandatory readings, students are required to read the cases scheduled for the presentations. Further reading (not mandatory): -Daniele Gallo, Direct Effect in EU Law, OUP, 2025, Chapters I-VI. -Koen Lenaerts, Kathleen Gutman, and Janek Tomasz Nowak, EU Procedural Law, OUP, 2023, 2nd ed.

The course will be taught via lectures and seminars, and it will be highly interactive. Theoretical issues will be always confronted with practical cases in order to allow the students to understand how to enforce EU law before national and EU courts. More precisely, teaching methods include theoretical lectures taught by the Professor as well as lectures and seminars held by Visiting Professors and Guest Lecturers, including leading practitioners, such as Judge Bobek, former AG at the CJEU. In-class discussions and critical thinking will be stimulated constantly. To this end, all students, when requested, are expected to read the required case law in advance and be ready to engage in a critical discussion with each other and with the instructor. Moreover, students will be required to give one short oral presentation on the EU case law.

Students attending the 80% of the course (hereinafter “attending students”) will be evaluated on the basis of their research paper up to 3,000 words in length (footnotes included, references excluded) on a specific topic assigned in class. In addition to the general evaluation criteria stated below (which will be used in marking the final paper), the presentations given during the course, the active involvement in the trial simulation, and more generally the class participation will be taken into account – either alone or together with other criteria – in determining part of the final evaluation. More precisely, the mark for the paper can be adapted within a range of minus 10% to plus 10% on the basis of the said three participation criteria. Attending students who have scored below 18/30 (in total) in the final paper and those non-attending students the said activities will be required to sit for a final oral exam on the whole programme With regard to both the final paper and the oral exam (for non-attending students and attending students opting to sit the oral exam), the following evaluation criteria will be taken into account to assign the final grade, expressed in thirtieths: - knowledge and understanding of the notions and principles of the matter and ability to apply them to concrete cases (65%); appropriate use of the technical and legal vocabulary, ability to analyse and evaluate relevant sources and acquisition of the study and research method (35%). Gaps concerning one or more notions or principles will lead to an insufficient evaluation, even in presence of a basic knowledge of the matter.

Successful completion of the final exam, interest in a critical understanding of the subject, good skills in bibliographical and case-law research, adequate knowledge of English (and possibly one of the following languages: French, Spanish, German).