Institute for International Relations

Project Coordinator

• Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, Faculty of Law and Social Sciences at the Eötvös Loránd University from Budapest

Project Partners

• Institute for International Relations (IMO)
• The West University of Timişoara
• Trnava University from Trnava
• Charles University in Prague
• University of Ljubljana
• Karl-Franzens University of Graz
• Tallinn Law School – Tallinn University of Technology
• Law School of Bratislava
• Academia Istropolitana Nova - Svätý Jur

Timeframe
The project will be implemented throughout 2010 and 2011.

Summary
The aim of the project is to analyze Central European countries’ experiences of the EU membership by focusing on their adjustment to the EU law across several legal areas. The purpose is to reveal their comparative implementation of the acquis communautaire and share best practices regarding the enforcement of these reforms. Furthermore, project enhances scientific cooperation among the new EU Member States in the field of European integration as it focuses on the
experiences and challenges stemming from the EU membership. IMO is the only non-EU partnership institution in the project and its participation is relevant because project will be concluded during the Hungarian EU Presidency when Croatia expects to finish its EU accession negotiations.

Goals

• To evaluate development of legal sectors in the new EU Member States, their adoption to the EU law and challenges accompanied with that process
• To share experiences and know-how regarding the reform processes in the new EU Member States and how they can be used for facilitation of reform processes in Croatia
• To establish and improve collaborative ties with partners in order to launch future cooperation in the field of European Studies with special regional comparative approach

Activities

• Establishing web-portal where partnership institutions share their research papers and analysis regarding the reforms across selected legal areas
• International conference that will conclude the project and that will take place in Budapest between the 28th and 29th of April 2011. During the conference's plenary session, the representatives of the partnership institutions will deliver their results regarding the reforms and adjustments to the EU law in the states covered by the project.

Selected project topics

• Competition law
• Free movement of persons, goods and services
• International private law
• Company law
• Consumer protection/Contract law
• Impacts of the EU law on the national legal languages
• Impacts of the EU law on national cultures
• Application of EU Law by National Courts
• Other

Languages
The official languages are English and German.

IMO Contact Persons
Višnja Samardžija, PhD, IMO Coordinator
Hrvoje Butković, PhD, Project Associate