Challenges posed to European integration by exercises of direct democracy at the national or sub-state level – EU response to referendums on internal constitutional matters – Greek, Scottish and Catalan referendum processes – Resilience of state nationalism and the complex pluralisation of identities below the level of the state

Brexit – EU citizens’ rights – Direct effect beyond the EU – The Withdrawal Agreement does not protect citizens properly – Copying substantive provisions of EU law and parts of the EU’s supranational features, such as direct effect, does not provide equal protection for EU citizens once a country is no longer part of the EU – UK-specific implementation measures to be set out in Withdrawal Agreement or Protocol – Guarantees also to be set out in primary legislation – UK Government intends to act to a great extent via secondary legislation – relationship between the Withdrawal Act and the Withdrawal Agreement and Implementation Bill

Purely internal situations – Fundamental freedoms – Attribution of powers – Ullens de Schooten – Reverse discrimination – Non-discriminatory obstacles – EU citizenship – Preliminary rulings – Jurisdiction of the Court of Justice – Conditions of admissibility of preliminary references

Banking Union – Single Supervisory Mechanism – Economic interplay between monetary policy and prudential supervision – Strict separation envisaged by the Single Supervisory Mechanism legal framework – Legal framework does not prevent a more holistic approach – Financial stability is a legitimate consideration for monetary policy-making – Price stability is a legitimate concern for prudential supervision – Challenge to European Central Bank legitimacy and independence – Democratising the European Central Bank

Conceptualising the European rule of law-value – A critique of the concept of European legal community – A conceptualisation of trust for a fresh understanding of the rule of law-value – Trust research in the social sciences – The trustworthiness of the European rule of law in light of calls for breaking up the current order

Differentiated integration – Internal and external differentiation – Duty of loyalty – Loyalty as a constraint on differentiation – Agreements between member states – Unity of Union action – Relationship between enhanced cooperation and inter se agreements

State of emergency in France – Historical origins of the legal regime – Ways in which it was adapted and normalised between 2015 and 2017 – Application against rule of law principles and human rights standards – Institutional balance between powers – In-depth study of 700 court decisions – Legal challenges to state of emergency measures – Challenges to judicial scrutiny

European Commission – Size of the Commission – Presidentialisation – President’s power of organisation – Principle of collegiality – Responsibility of the College at large – Reorganisation of the Commission – Balance between efficiency and member state representation – Legality of project teams – Rotation of voting rights in EU law – System of rotation for the European Commission

European Commission – Monopoly on legislative initiative – Power to withdraw legislative proposals, as recognised and limited by the Court of Justice – Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making – European Parliament Rules of Procedure – Interinstitutional programming procedures – Technical and political usages of the withdrawal – Question of confidence in national parliamentary systems – National Parliaments and Early Warning System – Parliamentarisation of the decision to withdraw – Principle of institutional balance

EU Free Trade Agreements joint organs – Comprehensive powers beyond executive implementation – Democratic legitimacy concerns – Establishment of treaty bodies in CETA as a conferral of public powers – Limits to delegation prescribed by EU constitutional law – Mechanisms to strengthen the control of the European Parliament over the treaty bodies’ decision-making

Essence of fundamental rights – Article 52(1) of the Charter – Multi-level protection of fundamental rights in Europe – Sources of essence – European Court of Justice case law on ‘very substance’ of fundamental rights – Constitutional traditions common to the Member States – European Court of Human Rights – Court of Justice of the EU – Schrems – Principle of proportionality – Absolute theory – Relative theory – Classification of interferences with essence – Objective interference – Subjective interference – Absolute rights – EU methodology for determination of interference with essence

Judicial accountability – Court administration – Judicial politics – Judicial councils – Assessment and appointment of judges – Disciplinary responsibility – Liability of judges – Italy

Constitutional referendum – Popular sovereignty – Constituent power – Democratic legitimacy – Participation in referendum as exercise of constituent power – The legal status conception of the constitution – The legal functions conception of the constitution – Open question whether every provision in codified constitutions is essential to constituent power – Therefore, constitutional referendum not always mandated by democratic legitimacy

Treaty obligations: the EU shall combat social exclusion and discrimination, and promote social justice and protection – EU institutions responses to social challenges outside of the Social Policy Title – Fragmentation of Social Policy: in many ways deeply unsatisfactory, yet useful lessons may be learnt – Social implications of economic integration – Rethinking EU intervention on the protection of individuals owing to a fundamental rights’ narrative.