EU Integration and Citizens Rights

ended

EUICR explores ways to address the EU’s increasing legitimacy crisis through focusing on individuals in society in their status as citizens. Citizen status has been identified with the right to have rights. The EU’s ability to generate directly enforceable rights constitutes a major distinction from ordinary international organisations. The EU’s ability of gaining legitimacy through this unique characteristic depends, however, on citizens confidence that EU derived rights not only have substance, but also can be relied upon in practice. EUICR establishes an interdisciplinary cooperation of legal, political, and economic EU studies. It explores how effective activation of citizens’ rights can enhance the EU’s legitimacy. The project comprises the EU, its neighbourhood and its global partnerships. Work packages 2, 3 and 4 investigate the effectiveness of free movement and anti-discrimination rights within the EU in the post-COVID crisis, the extent to which these rights are extended to citizens of Northern Ireland and the Ukraine as examples of conflictive societies in the EU’s Western and Eastern neighbourhood, how citizens’ engagement with sports can or cannot be furthered through EU rights, and how the EU promotes economic rights in its free trade agreements and human rights in its relations with China. Its outputs consist of a series of 9 seminars and workshops, 7 working papers suitable to be submitted for peer review, 3 policy papers suitable to be submitted for consultations, and 12 podcasts and blogs. It targets academic audiences, policy makers and stake holders and involves NGOs. Academic results are communicated through media, stake-holder engagement and in novel ways through art, to achieve audiences of at least 2000 members of the general public, 200 stake holders and 500 academics. EUICR combines three Jean Monnet Chairs and one Jean Monnet Module leader. Its PI, Professor Schiek, is a Jean Monnet ad personam Chair of 20 years standing.