These two work packages deliver the qualitative comparative research, with the aim to establish perceptions and experiences of lay persons in relation to EU derived rights. This is achieved in four steps. First, expert interviews in the comparator countries with a variety of stakeholders will identify whether and to what extent the EU instruments or obligations of association / partnership agreements have been or will be implemented in national law or practice, what barriers and enablers the experts perceive, and how practical the intended effects are considered to be. In the second step, this information will be used to compose factual scenarios, similar to those used in the common core method of legal comparison, or “vignettes” used by social scientists describing real-life situations for qualitative interviews. The aim is to represent everyday experiences of citizens of EU-derived rights, both in transnational and local interactions. In a third step, textual vignettes will be complemented by visual representations, in collaboration graphic capturers. The vignettes will be used in a fourth step to gauge whether and how non-expert members of the public perceive and experience the practical usage of EU-derived rights or rights derived from EU association/partnership agreements with neighbouring countries. WP 3 and 4 are the responsibility of the whole team (6 PhD researchers, two post-doctoral researchers and the PI), who are supported by a additional research assistant for this purpose. WP3 and WP4 answer the following research question.
| RQ 3: Can we demonstrate citizens’ interaction through the practical use of rights in qualitative and comparative research? Four empirical questions emerge: a) Will judicial enforcement, enforcement through other formal channels such as ombuds or SOLVIT, and informal use of rights in political or grassroots campaigning render different results? b) Does success of practical use of rights differ between rights whose direct effect is not contested, rights deriving from EU harmonisation and rights deriving from instruments not creating formal legal obligations? c) How is the practical use of rights impacted through the continuum between supranationalism and intergovernmentalism represented by EU law on the one hand and the law of the UK–EU trade and cooperation agreement on the other hand? d) How will rights have to be reconceptualised to adjust to the reality of the digital economy and society? |