The course "Directly from Brussels: Current Issues in European Law" is aimed at students with a basic knowledge of European law who wish to deepen and update their knowledge. 

Each unit deals with 1-2 current cases of European law taken directly from the practice of the EU institutions and/or the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union. Based on the text of EU primary law, the relevant legal provisions are identified and interpreted according to European law methodology. Relevant EU secondary law will be discussed where necessary and possible in terms of time. 

As the cases dealt with in the lecture are taken from current events, the relevant texts and materials are usually only uploaded the day before the lecture date. 

Anyone who has already attended the lecture in a previous semester can do so again if there are still places available, as new current cases are of course discussed every semester. In the summer semester 2024, cases from EU sustainability law (climate, environmental and energy law), EU digitalisation law, economic and monetary union law, asylum and migration law and European institutional law can be expected in particular, even if the topicality can also bring other topics into the lecture.

The knowledge acquired in the lecture is the subject of a final exam, which is to be completed online under "open book" conditions. The final assessment of course participation is based on the performance in the exam and participation in the lecture.

For meaningful participation in the lecture, it is essential to have a current consolidated text of the EU Treaties (TEU, TFEU, Protocols and Charter) with you. This can be downloaded free of charge as a PDF document from the website of the Publications Office of the European Union here.

Prof Dr Martin Selmayr, who will be giving the lecture, is an experienced EU diplomat and proven expert in European law, who has worked, among other things, as Head of Cabinet of Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, as Secretary General of the European Commission and most recently as EU Ambassador to Austria. He is a visiting professor of European law at the Institute for Innovation and Digitalisation in Law at the University of Vienna in the summer semester and also teaches European law at Saarland University, Danube University Krems and the University of Passau, where he is Academic Director of the Centre for European Law. In the lecture, Prof Dr Selmayr will exclusively present his personal opinion as an academic, which does not necessarily correspond to the official legal opinion of the European Commission.

Registration is possible via u:find until 26 February 2024.