Constitutional and European Social Security Law

6 ECTS credits
150 h study time

Offer 2 with catalog number 4001550FER for all students in the 1st semester at a (F) Master - specialised level.

Semester

1st semester

Enrollment based on exam contract

Possible

Grading method

Grading (scale from 0 to 20)

Can retake in second session

Yes

Enrollment Requirements

De student is ingeschreven in een traject waar het opleidingsonderdeel voorkomt.

Taught in

Dutch

Partnership Agreement

Under interuniversity agreement for degree program

Faculty

Faculty of Law and Criminology

Department

Publiek recht

Educational team

Eleni De Becker (course titular)

Activities and contact hours

18 contact hours Lecture
100 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study

Course Content

This course unit looks at Belgian social security law from a fundamental rights and European perspective. On the one hand, the course introduces students to the protection afforded to social security claims through international, EU and Belgian fundamental rights. On the other hand, the course elaborates on the interaction between EU law and Belgian social security law, with a particular focus on cross-border situations and the relationship with Belgian social security law.

During the course, the protection provided in EU, international and Belgian fundamental rights and EU social security law is first discussed in-depth. Next, some social risks are discussed in more detail as well as their relationship with fundamental and EU social security law. Examples include 1) Belgian unemployment insurance, 2) Belgian pension insurance and 3) the Belgian sickness and invalidity scheme. In this way, the principles learned about fundamental law and EU social security law are further applied and the students' knowledge is further deepened.

The course allows students to come into contact with social security law in general and fundamental and EU social security law in particular. Through the proposed method, students gain knowledge and understanding at a specialised and detailed level. Furthermore, they are taught to understand, frame and explain legal arguments and reasoning within the broader law.

Course material

Course text (Required) : Special issues in social security law from a perspective of fundamental rights and EU law, Syllabus, E. De Becker
Digital course material (Required) : Slides and other documents, Canvas
Handbook (Recommended) : Basiswetboek Sociaal Recht (recent edition), Alofs, Wolters Kluwer, 9789403021157, 2022

Additional info

Course text (Required): Special issues in social security law from a perspective of fundamental rights and EU law, Syllabus, E. De Becker
Digital course materials (Required): Slides and other documents, as available on Canvas
Handbook (Recommended): Basic Social Law textbook for students latest edition, Alofs, Wolters Kluwer.

Learning Outcomes

General competencies

At the end of the course unit, the student is able to:

in a general way, explain and apply EU, international and national fundamental rights and European law to a number of cases in social security law and new social and legal developments with which social security law is confronted;
with a constructive-critical and analytical attitude make an opinionated value judgement on a legal problem relating to social security law, whereby they understand the connection between the national legal rules in social security law and the fundamental and European legal standards.

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Oral Exam determines 100% of the final mark.

Within the Oral Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

Oral Exam with a relative weight of 1 which comprises 100% of the final mark.

Additional info regarding evaluation

The student is assessed through an oral exam, which determines 100% of the final grade. During the oral exam, the student has to complete the following assignments, namely answering knowledge and comprehension questions and discussing cases.

The oral exam checks the students' ability, based on the study material and lectures, to answer knowledge and comprehension questions and discuss cases.

The following evaluation criteria are used:

the student's knowledge and understanding of fundamental and European social security law, in particular the issues of social security law dealt with in more detail during the lectures;
insight into the way in which the relevant legislation in social security law can be tested against the higher legal standards present in fundamental and European social security law;
the way in which the student solves the given case and the student's motives when explaining this solution.

Allowed unsatisfactory mark

The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context