A presente pesquisa tem por pano de fundo o debate sobre a legitimidade do processo de integração da Europa, iniciado na década de 1950. Uma das principais expressões desta seara corresponde ao contemporâneo tema das assimetrias entre as expectativas das populações nacionais sobre a condução do processo de integração e o procedimento decisório verificado na praxis comunitária. O variado rol de limitações à ação participativa dos cidadãos no cerne deliberativo da União Europeia é reunido doutrinariamente sob a alcunha de déficit democrático. Mote frequente das análises de Filosofia Política e assunto recorrente dos estudiosos de Relações Internacionais, a existência de um déficit democrático na principal iniciativa de integração regional da Europa encontra escassos trabalhos sedimentados em uma abordagem jurídica. Deste modo, o principal escopo deste estudo é aclarar de que forma o Direito contribuiu para o advento do déficit democrático europeu e como são articuladas, pela via jurídica, as tentativas atuais de combate a este fenômeno. Para tanto, há de se demarcar o referencial teórico utilizado pela pesquisa, essencialmente no tocante a) à possibilidade de se aproximar regionalismo e democracia; b) à influência das teorias da integração no tema de estudo e c) à versão do conceito de democracia eleita no trabalho. Ademais, o arcabouço metodológico empregado para a obtenção dos resultados pretendidos responde, em um primeiro momento, pela análise dos textos originais dos principais tratados da integração europeia seguida por uma abordagem teórico-doutrinária de alguns aspectos da realidade jurídica do bloco. Para honrar suas pretensões, esta pesquisa apresenta uma estrutura tripartite. No capítulo inicial, há o debate sobre o estatuto conceitual do Direito da União Europeia, verdadeira condição para a aferição da hipótese de trabalho proposta. Nele, foram discutidas as vicissitudes atinentes aos problemas da natureza e da autonomia da malha normativa do bloco comunitário da Europa. Visto o panorama teórico do fenômeno jurídico comunitário da marcha europeia, empreendemos um detido exame do conjunto de dispositivos presentes na sequência de documentos fundamentais iniciada pelo Tratado de Paris (1951) e encadeada até o Tratado de Nice (2001). Tal abordagem permitiu reconhecer as principais normas relacionadas ao tratamento da questão democrática no processo de integração. Feita a identificação dos elementos normativos relacionados à questão do déficit democrático, atentamo-nos para o alcance da atuação do Direito neste contexto. Assim, há de se notar as consequências para a base social de um ordenamento jurídico alheio à tradicional estrutura piramidal, os resultados jurídicos da tentativa de afirmação da noção de cidadania europeia e o delineamento da configuração hodierna das iniciativas de aplacar o déficit democrático por meio dos dispositivos do Tratado de Lisboa (2009). Este percurso revela as agruras da legitimidade democrática da União Europeia e o anfótero papel do Direito no contexto referido, fornecendo um importante recurso de depreensão da realidade comunitária para os atores transnacionais contemporâneos. / The background of this study is the debate concerning the legitimacy of the process of integrating Europe that began in the 1950s. One of the main expressions related to this discussion corresponds to the asymmetries between the expectations of national populations on how the process of integration is to be conducted and the decision-making process observed in the community praxis. The various limitations on the participatory action of citizens in the deliberative core of the European Union are doctrinally gathered under the label democratic deficit. A frequent motto in analysis in Political Philosophy and a recurring subject for International Relations researchers, the existence of a democratic deficit within the main initiative for the regional integration of Europe is not much addressed in studies with a legal basis. Therefore, the main scope of this study is to clarify how the field of law has contributed to the advent of the European democratic deficit and how current attempts to fight this phenomenon take place from a legal perspective. Accordingly, the theoretical framework used in this study needs to be delimited in relation to: a) the possibility of approaching regionalism and democracy; b) the influence of theories of integration in the studied subject; and c) the version of the concept of democracy elected at work. Additionally, the methodological framework employed to obtain the desired results responds, first, to the analysis of original texts from the main treaties of the European integration followed by a theoretical-doctrinal approach to some aspects of the blocs legal context. To achieve its goals, this study presents a three-part structure. A debate concerning European Union Law is presented in the opening chapter; a true condition for measuring the studys proposed hypothesis. The vicissitudes concerning the problems related to the nature and autonomy of regulations in the European bloc are discussed. Given the theoretical background of the phenomenon of the juridical community in the European march of democratization, we carefully examine the devices present in the series of key documents initiated in the Treaty of Paris (1951) linked up to the Treaty of Nice (2001). Such an approach enabled the identification of the main standards related to the treatment given to the democratic issue in the integration process. Once the regulatory elements related to the democratic deficit were identified, we focused on the scope of the role played by Law in this context. Therefore, the consequences in social terms of a legal order oblivious to the traditional pyramidal structure and the juridical outcomes of an attempt to claim the notion of European citizenship, as well as the current configuration of initiatives to mitigate the democratic deficit through devices provided in the Treaty of Lisbon (2009), should be noted. This course reveals the hardships of attaining the democratic legitimacy of the European Union and amphoteric role of Law in this context, providing an important tool to understand the context of the community for the contemporary cross-national actors.

This thesis examines the topic of conflict of norms in European Union (EU) law and the legal reasoning of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), arguing that the framework of conflict of norms provides conceptual insight into justification and the role of value choices in legal reasoning. After examining the theory of conflict of norms, which seems to have been relatively under-studied generally and especially in EU law, it examines three particular aspects of norm conflict resolution in the legal reasoning of the ECJ and EU law: conflict of interpretative norms, especially the opposition between conserving and innovative interpretation; conflicts of human rights norms, looking in particular at the idea of a hierarchy of rights and of specificationism in the articulation of rights; and conflicts of competence norms. It concludes that the scope exists for a fuller justification of the choice of norms in the legal reasoning of the ECJ and generally in EU law and offers a perspective on how the values articulated by the EU suggest particular approaches to norm conflict resolution by the ECJ in its decision-making in these fields, in particular, a greater resort to lex specialis and originalist or historical interpretation, in contrast to its current method.

This thesis analyzes the management of refugee crisis in the Federal Republic of Germany in relation to the applicable law of the European Union. In theoretical introduction, the thesis focuses on the definition of key concepts and the related areas of EU law. The second part is devoted to the policy of the Federal Republic of Germany led by Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel and the actions adopted. In the last part, these actions are analyzed in accordance with the main research question of this thesis, namely whether Germany is dealing with the immigrant crisis in accordance with the law of the European Union.

This study analyzes whether the EU's migration agreement with Turkey and negotiations on a agreement with Libya correspond with the requirements that can be imposed on the EU in regards to respect the rights of refugees. The purpose of this thesis is to provide a critical approach of EU's agreements with these two countries, from a legal and moral perspective. The study contains the central protections for refugees and asylum seekers in international law and European Union law. The moral perspective consists of an independent notion defining the respect for human dignity with regarding perceptions of Elena Namli and Seyla Benhabib. This study shows that EU's agreement with Turkey and negotiations on a agreement with Libya means displacing of EU's responsibility to ensure the protection of refugees. From the agreements it may be concluded that EU’s refugee policy prioritizes security issues over respect for human dignity.

Legal rules regarding unaccompanied refugee children in the European Union (EU) are closely related to the refugee crisis and the community’s asylum policy. This study aims to investigate how the best interests of the unaccompanied refugee child is being ensured under EU law. Dworkin’s theory and various methods are used to answer the research question. Firstly, the focus is, with the use of the chosen theoretical framework and international legal method, on the interpretation of the principle of “the best interests of the child”. Secondly, the thesis studies how this principle is reflected in the EU law in relation to unaccompanied refugee children, by applying EU legal method. This study shows, on the one hand, that there are a few anomalies in the EU legislation in the area of asylum that arise with regard to the best interests of the unaccompanied refugee child. It is argued that the European Union’s restrictive asylum legislation leads to conflicts between the international law and the EU law. On the other hand, the thesis demonstrates that the EU law has continuously improved, and the international child rights principle was adopted in it. It will be shown in this study that despite the common asylum policy and the community acquis, the EU Member States’ domestic law enables different assessments of the best interests of the unaccompanied child. The solution of normative conflicts is also in the hands of the EU countries, since the status determination of refugees and the assessment of the child’s best interests are carried out by the EU Member States. This will be confirmed by analysing the most important applicable EU laws, particularly the Proposal for a Regulation establishing a Union Resettlement Framework. The Proposal is chosen for discussion, because this is an essential part of the Common European Asylum System and is consistent with two packages of legislative proposals to reform it. The conclusion of this thesis is that the best interests principle is guaranteed in the EU law, but it is not guaranteed in the spirit of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and further improvements are needed in the EU legal framework.

The published work which forms the basis of this submission by the applicant for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy represents an extensive research which has extended the boundaries of knowledge and understanding in relation to the jurisprudential adjudications by the Court of Justice concerning the application of the TFEU freedoms of goods, persons, services and capital to national measures. The publications maintain thematic analytical focus on the jurisprudential employment of the EU principles of non discrimination, market access and the rule relating to the ¿selling arrangement¿ that are used as the modus operandi in the acquisition of Treaty free movement rights. The thread is law making; the published work evidences inconsistencies, complexities and confusions in the application by the Court of Justice of the modus operandi used to ensure acquisition of Treaty free movement rights. The research depicts a goods, persons, services and capital jurisprudence which displays a want of thematically consistent underpinning and some doctrinal diversity. It is the purpose of this Submission to exhibit the cohesiveness of the published work under review in the context of the contribution made to the knowledge and understanding of the jurisprudence of goods, persons, services and capital in European Union law.

University of Macau / Faculty of Law

The published work which forms the basis of this submission by the applicant for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy represents an extensive research which has extended the boundaries of knowledge and understanding in relation to the jurisprudential adjudications by the Court of Justice concerning the application of the TFEU freedoms of goods, persons, services and capital to national measures. The publications maintain thematic analytical focus on the jurisprudential employment of the EU principles of non discrimination, market access and the rule relating to the 'selling arrangement' that are used as the modus operandi in the acquisition of Treaty free movement rights. The thread is law making; the published work evidences inconsistencies, complexities and confusions in the application by the Court of Justice of the modus operandi used to ensure acquisition of Treaty free movement rights. The research depicts a goods, persons, services and capital jurisprudence which displays a want of thematically consistent underpinning and some doctrinal diversity. It is the purpose of this Submission to exhibit the cohesiveness of the published work under review in the context of the contribution made to the knowledge and understanding of the jurisprudence of goods, persons, services and capital in European Union law.

This PhD thesis seeks to establish a multi-layered definition of the principle of loyal cooperation in EU law in its current form. It focuses on four fundamental ways of describing this principle. The first one is a linguistic analysis of the term "principle of loyal cooperation" itself. The thesis looks at its equivalents in all official languages of the EU and applies various linguistic (etymology) and non-linguistic research tools and findings from the study of history, social psychology and philosophy to understand and delimit the principle of loyal cooperation in EU law. In a second step, the principle is examined at three separate levels. At the first level the situation and significance of the actors bound by loyalty is explored. At the second level the paper focuses on the differences between the principle of loyal cooperation, the way commitments are met in international public law, and the mechanisms of ensuring loyalty in countries with a federal structure. Lastly, the third level of analysis looks into the ways the principle of loyal cooperation and its operation vary according to the area of competence. Keywords: principle of sincere cooperation, European Union law, theory of federalism, European studies

The aim of the thesis is to examine whether the prohibition of overcompensation in the Antitrust Damages Directive is compatible with the EU legal and normative framework. To this end, the analysis is carried out on two levels. First, the rationale for damages in the selected jurisdictions (England, France and Germany) and in the EU is examined to test the main underpinning justification for the prohibition of overcompensation in the Antitrust Damages Directive, i.e. the 'European legal tradition argument'. Second, the thesis addresses broader constitutional implications that underpin the debate on the desirability of the pursuit to prohibit overcompensation in the EU. These entail questions pertaining to the adoption of such measures and, thus, exploring whether the EU has the legitimacy to legislate and the related question of competence and the choice of the appropriate legal basis. The argument to be advanced in this thesis is that the aim of achieving a sufficient level of deterrence with awarding damages for EU competition law infringements stems from the very conceptual basis in which the right to damages is grounded - the principle of effective judicial protection and the principle of effectiveness. Thus, as the analysis reveals, the prohibition of overcompensation is inconsistent with the EU legal framework, since it has potential to jeopardise the deterrent or dissuasive function of antitrust damages actions. The prohibition of overcompensation has significantly contributed to the business-biased gist of the Directive, and thus to breaking the link between the rationale for the right to damages for EU competition law infringements, the legal basis and the content of the Directive. The thesis ultimately argues that the Directive's prohibition is incompatible with the principles of conferral, subsidiarity and proportionality, and to a considerable extent inconsistent with the EU's legal and normative framework.