Droit et relations internationales (en anglais)

I. Description
This course aims at developing a critical understanding of Law and International Relations.
The course concentrates on the legal dimension of European Union’s external relations
through an analysis of the evolution of the competences, powers, legal basis, principles and
instruments used by the EU and its Member states to develop and structure its relations with
its main partners around the world.
The course combines lectures and discussions with students. A syllabus will be provided.
II. Course Learning Outcomes
At the end of the course students should be able to:
• Understand the interactions and main differences between European Law, European
Union law and international law in the field of EU external relations;
• Understand the specific legal nature and variety of relationships established by the EU
with its main partners around the world;
• Understand the role and importance of the various legal basis and instruments, in
particular the various types of agreements and overall legal structures (hard and soft
law) used to link the EU to its main partners around the world;
• Identify the main international norms and values refer to in the agreements concluded
by the EU and its Member States;
• Develop a critical argumentation on the key aspects of the EU’s relations with its main
partners in the current international context.
• Better understand what kind of international actor the EU has become;
III. Course Contents
- Session 1: Introduction: the development of EU competences, powers and instruments
in the field of external relations, from Rome to Lisbon
- Session 2 The current EU’s external relations legal architecture: an excessive or a
necessary differentiation? Case Study: The European Neighbourhood Policy
- Session 3 Reinforcing the consistency and the articulation of EU’s policies, strategies
and instruments and overcoming geographical silos. Case Study: the neighbours of
EU’s neighbours and the EU Strategy for cooperation in the Indo-Pacific
IV. Course Assessment
Work group: Preparation of a file on a given topic
V. Selective Bibliography of the Lecturer Related to the Course
Erwan Lannon, L’Union européenne en tant qu’acteur international et membre
d’organisations internationales, in Commentaire Mégret, Relations extérieures - L’Union
européenne comme acteur international, 3eme édition sous la coordination de Jacques
Bourgeois, Institut d’Études Européennes, éditions de l’Université Libre de Bruxelles,
Bruxelles, Janvier 2015, pp. 107-154.
Erwan Lannon, Politique européenne de voisinage, Encyclopédie JurisClasseur EuropeTraité,
fascicule 2230, Paris, 2017, pp. 1-49.
Erwan Lannon, The ‘neighbours of the EU’s neighbours’, the ‘EU’s broader neighbourhood’
and the ‘arc of crisis and strategic challenges’ from the Sahel to Central Asia, in S. Gstohl &
E. Lannon, The Neighbours of the European Union's Neighbours- Diplomatic and Geopolitical
Dimensions beyond the European Neighbourhood Policy, Farnham, Ashgate, 2014, pp. 1-25.
Erwan Lannon, Vers une straté