Grigonis, Simas

The Master Thesis is devoted to the study of the “right to say no” by local communities to environmentally harmful projects. More precisely, the Thesis analyzed the question “Is the right of local communities to stop hazardous to human health and environmentally damaging mining projects recognized in law?” The main objectives of the Thesis were to analyze the range of human rights which can be affected by environmentally harmful projects. Moreover, the Thesis scrutinized the public participation rights in environmental decision-making as a legal instrument for the local communities to say no to mining projects that may violate their human rights. Furthermore, the Thesis analyzed whether the EU legislation on public participation rights in environmental decision-making and answers if it is sufficient to protect the human rights of local communities affected by mining projects during the energy transition in the EU. The research has shown that public participation rights in environmental decision-making, in theory, can provide the local communities with the “right to say no” to harmful development projects, such as mining. However, this depends on meeting such requirements as “early participation” and “due consideration” of the results of public participation. The EU law provides discretionary to the Member States in regard to early participation, therefore, the local communities are deprived of the “right to say no”. Besides, “due consideration” does not guarantee veto rights to the local communities. Moreover, the implementation of this requirement in EU Member States calls into question whether the community has any influence at all.

Dissertation “Jurisdictional interaction between the CJEU and international dispute settlement bodies: EU law perspective” aims to systematically analyse the extent of the normative influence of the principle of autonomy of the EU legal order on delimitation of the CJEU’s jurisdiction from jurisdictions of selected international dispute settlement bodies, which fall outside the scope of dispute settlement mechanisms provided under the EU Treaties. Seeking this purpose the content of the principle of autonomy of the EU legal order established in the CJEU’s cases related to jurisdictional delimitation is revealed as well as the principle’s influence on European integration. Within the context of the application of the principle of autonomy, two recent controversial decisions of the CJEU in Achmea and Opinion 1/17 are analysed. First, it is scrutinised how the principle of autonomy is applied in respect of investment arbitral tribunals established under intra-EU BITs and whether responses of these tribunals to the CJEU’s case law reflect any risks for the autonomy of EU law. Secondly, it is assessed if the Investment Court System mechanism, established in the EU’s treaty with Canada, could have adverse effects on the autonomy of the EU legal order.

The Master thesis analyze the influence that the principle of autonomy, forming part of the EU law constitutional doctrine, has on the reasoning and status of CJEU while performing the reception of international law. It is aimed to indicate by what means the principle of autonomy is implemented within EU legal order in the field of external relations and what influence it has on the CJEU’s approach in the cases where the questions of application of the sources of international law are involved. The research has shown that the principle of autonomy of EU legal order significantly influences the reception of the sources of international law. The possibility to grant international legal sources an effect within EU legal order is made a subject to a restrictive conditions that are difficult to fulfill. By checking whether the sources of international law meets the conditions of autonomy protection CJEU acts similarly as a national constitutional court.