Judicaël Etienne earned a PhD in Law from the University of Louvain (UCL), Centre Ch. De Visscher pour le droit international et européen (CeDIE), in September 2010. He had graduated from UCL with a Law Degree in 2001 and holds an LLM in European Law from the University of Leipzig (2003). Judicaël was Research Fellow and Teaching Assistant at the UCL Faculty of Law and lecturer at the UCL Institute for European Studies. Judicaël’s research focuses on EU External Relations Law and International Law. His doctoral thesis explores disconnection and substitution clauses under Treaty Law and EU Constitutional Law.

Research Project:

A Link Connecting EU Law to International Law: An EU Constitutional Principle of Loyalty towards International Law?

 

In line with the Lisbon Treaty, the research project suggests the recognition of a constitutional principle in EU Law providing for loyalty towards International Law. In addition to the theoretical interest of expressing a connection linking and articulating the relationship between two related legal systems, the principle could have practical impact on EU Procedural Law.

 

The relationship between International and EU Law may be expressed as a harmonious combination of internal autonomy and international loyalty. The research project relies on the idea that the phenomenon of friendliness or openness towards International Law might be recognized as an EU constitutional principle covering the questions of reception, effect and reliance on International Law.

 

International Law formally requires from its subjects that they act in compliance with their international commitments. Whereas this principle is acknowledged in European Law, the possibility of relying on International Law is either undetermined or subject to strict conditions. International loyalty would therefore define and clarify the statute of International Law within the EU legal system and allow for a critical look at the issue of the relationship between International and EU Law. The research project intends to examine possible sources, scope and effects of a principle providing for international loyalty.