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"Constitutionalisation and Legitimacy" in the EU and the WTO
Organisers: Students of Jim Rollo & Peter Holmes, University of Sussex

This UACES workshop will take place on Tuesday 20 June 2000 and is being organised by students under Jim Rollo.  It is being funded by Sussex European Institute and UACES and will be held at the Sussex European Institute.

Recent developments in EU politics - increased emphasis on transgovernmental policy initiatives (see Lisbon Summit) and the use of ‘soft’ policy instruments, diminishing the role of the Commission - appear to herald a change in the European policy-making modes. The Monnet method of integration is increasingly been questioned. The acquis communautaire, however, continues to develop. The constraints placed on the Member Governments of the EU have been described as acquiring a quasi-constitutional dimension. This growth in constraints has been accompanied by an increased debate about Europe’s legitimacy gap. Similar concerns are now being raised with regard to the role and function of the World Trade Organization.

The purpose of this workshop style conference is to assess the problems of legitimacy raised by the process of constitutionalisation in the EU and the changing mode of governance. The keynote address on ‘Legitimacy, Democracy and the Emergence of a Rules-based System’ will be given by Prof Joseph Weiler, Manley Hudson Professor of Law, Harvard University. Other speakers include Prof Helen Wallace, Co-director Sussex European Institute, and Jan Aart Scholte, University of Warwick.

The event is organised by SEI research students for research students, with funding from the SEI and UACES. As this workshop style conference is aimed at doctoral candidates, priority will be given to research students. Numbers are limited; but a few travel grants for research students are available from SEI, and graduate students who are also Associate Members of UACES are reminded that UACES is able to refund up to 50% of the travel costs incurred by graduate students.

Contact: Matt Browne (m.j.browne@sussex.ac.uk ) or Henrike Müller (h.mueller@sussex.ac.uk).

Last modified: Wednesday, 16 March 2005
idW015  +01Jan2000  İUACES 2000