EU Individual Paragraph

European Court of Justice

The European Court of Justice is the most significant judiciary body of the European Union. Its primary responsibility is the strict application of the EU laws in all member countries. Furthermore, the task of this Luxembourg-based institution is to settle legal problems not only between the governments but also between the institutions of the European Union. Besides these highly significant bodies, also individuals, companies and organizations can ask for the judicial help of the European Court of Justice. To ensure the fair representation of the entire EU, this body is made up from judges from all member countries. Their tasks are very diverse. First of all, they are responsible for the right comprehension of the EU laws, since some countries might interpret the regulations differently. Secondly, in some cases the EU governments do not intend to apply the laws at all. Finally, certain laws violate the EU treaties or fundamental rights of the people. The European Court of Justice has to interfere in all of these above listed issues, as it embodies the jurisdiction of the whole European Union.

Paragraph brainstorming

- Luxembourg-based institution

- EU laws - same way everywhere

- legal problems: 1) EU governments 2) EU institutions

individuals, companies, organisations <-> EU institutions

- 1 judge/country

- a) interpret EU laws

- b) EU govs not applying

- c) violation of EU treaties

Feedback summary 1 (Topic Sentence, Register):

Firstly, I was given a very positive feedback concerning my topic sentence and concluding sentence. Secondly, in terms of register we thought of changing the word 'besides' to 'apart from', though according to dictionary entries it is not obvious, which one is more formal or appropriate in this case. According to the COCA I decided to leave ´besides´. Last but not least, there was a smart suggestion regarding a too short sentence, which could be nicely linked to the previous sentence.


Revised paragraph 1:

The European Court of Justice is the most significant judiciary body of the European Union. Its primary responsibility is the strict application of the EU laws in all member countries. Furthermore, the task of this Luxembourg-based institution is to settle legal problems not only between the governments but also between the institutions of the European Union. Besides these highly significant bodies, also individuals, companies and organizations can ask for the judicial help of the European Court of Justice. To ensure the fair representation of the entire EU, this body is made up from judges from all member countries, who hold diverse tasks. First of all, they are responsible for the right comprehension of the EU laws, since some countries might interpret the regulations differently. Secondly, in some cases the EU governments do not intend to apply the laws at all. Finally, certain laws violate the EU treaties or fundamental rights of the people. The European Court of Justice has to interfere in all of these above listed issues, as it embodies the jurisdiction of the whole European Union.

What to Write About in an Academic Paper...

...when the topic is the EU

The European Union is a massive topic, which does not make it easy for me to decide, what to write about in 1,500 words. In this blog post I am going to try to crystallize, which topics I would like to be pleased to research and put down in words.

1. Language Policy (between 2005 and 2009)

In my opinion the language policy of the EU would be a brilliant topic to write about. The reason of which is that this is an actual issue, which might influence our life as well in terms of language learning. Moreover, as future translators and interpreters it would be highly recommended to be up-to-date end really well-informed about the planned measures in this field, as it might have an effect on our future jobs. 

2. What are the adoption requirements within the EU?

Despite adoption being a sensitive topic and often a taboo subject, I am convinced that this is an interesting area to research. This broad topic could be narrowed down geographically and in time (such as the Situation of Adoption between Hungary and Austria in the 1990s). As not many people know exactly, how an adoption works in practice and what are the requirements, I would be interested in writing about it. This could be a perfect example of how the EU affects people's life.

3. Financial support for the EU members

One of the biggest advantages of the EU for the economically less developed countries is that they are financially supported by the more developed countries. As I come from Hungary, I can clearly see the results of these loans but what we do not know is what happens, when we have to pay back this help. A thought-provoking title could be something like this: How much money did the EU invest in Hungary in the last 10 years? Such a title could be followed by a writing, which explains, how this support within the EU works.

4. Brussels Declaration on Sign Languages in the EU (2010)

I am convinced that many of my fellow students are interested in writing about the situation of translators or interpreters in the European Union. That is the reason, why I decided to choose a quite small part of this field, which is hopefully not that widespread: the sign languages. I would gladly write about the history of sign languages in the EU, and how they became officially acknowledged (e.g. in conferences).

5. Requirements for becoming a member state (in terms of a specific country)

Croatia has just joined the European Union, but not many people know, what a country has to achieve in order to receive the EU membership. It is a current issue, which could be very well presented. An interesting question would be examining, what the inhabitants of a country think and how much they are aware of the procedure what happens.

Although I came up with a couple of ideas, I think the best way would be to start a real research into all of the chosen topics and only that would tell me, which is the most interesting and suitable one for me personally. It is quite a hard decision to determine, with what I want to spend the next couple of months writing about.

I am looking forward to hearing your feedback!