17 Colum. J. Eur. L. 263 (2010) Sharon Pardo, Jean Monnet, Chair in European Studies at the Department of Politics and Government and the Director of the Centre for the Study of European Politics and Society, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Lior Zemer, Lecturer in Law, Interdisciplinary Centre Herzliya and Visiting Associate Professor, Boston University School of Law. Transnational economic integration has long been one of the preferred ways in which powerful global players signal their political and economic strength to potential trade partners. A main goal of the European Union in becoming an influential political and economic elite is expanding its transnational relations. The Mediterranean region receives special attention in this process. […]
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17 Colum. J. Eur. L. 231 (2010) Aurdlian Portuese, University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas. The principle of subsidiarity-whereby a power shared between the European Union and its Member States is exercised at the lowest appropriate level of governance-is a general principle of European Union law the justiciability of which has been widely discussed. The justiciability of the subsidiarity principle has been criticized for underlining its political relevance. However, this critique lacks the power to explain both the weight of the principle of subsidiarity in the E. U. Treaties and the case law regarding the subsidiarity principle. What is the principle of subsidiarity and what degree of justiciability does it have?
17 Colum. J. Eur. L. 151 (2010) Bart M.J. Szewczyk, Senior Associate at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr LLP in Washington, D.C., adjunct professor of international law at George Washington University Law School, Member of the Executive Council at the American Society of International Law, fellow at the Truman National Security Project, member of the European Society of International Law, and stylistic editor of the Polish Yearbook of International Law. The European Union, established with the Treaty of Maastricht and expanded through three subsequent treaties, has been granted new powers across extensive policy areas. Most importantly, the consolidation of Qualified Majority Voting (“QMV”) in the Council of Ministers as […]
17 Colum. J. Eur. L. 129 (2010) Toon Moonen, Fellow of the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO), Belgium at the Centre for Government and Law, Hasselt University.
17 Colum. J. Eur. L. 101 (2010) Kfir Abutbul, J.D., Columbia Law School, 2010; LL. B., University College London, Faculty of Laws, 2010. The U.S. and E.U competition regulation regimes, or antitrust regulation, as the regime is known in the U.S., serve as the global leaders of competition compliance enforcement. Many of their developments percolate to other competition regulation regimes, and any cross-border transaction will usually require in depth knowledge of the enforcement regulations in either of these jurisdictions, if not both. Most importantly, international counsel must be able to assess enforcement trends and make a judgment on the efficiency of cross border enforcement in transactions that span markets. Local interests outside […]
17 Colum. J. Eur. L. 57 (2010) Kristin Henrard, Professor of Minority Protection and Associate Professor of Constitutional Law and Human Rights at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Notwithstanding the absence of an explicit minority policy for internal purposes, it is possible to identify the gradual emergence of a minority-conscious implementation of non-minority specific E.U. policies (non-discrimination, social inclusion, integration, human rights, and cultural diversity). Nevertheless, this is not equally strong in all policy domains. It is argued here that a clear difference emerges between the approaches towards minorities, in particular towards new, immigrant minorities, in terms of socioeconomic integration (the socio-economic sphere) on the one hand and in terms of […]
17 Colum. J. Eur. L. 23 (2010) Tomas Richter, Of Counsel, Clifford Chance LLP, Prague; Lecturer, Institute of Economic Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague. Between the years 1996 and 2006, the Czech parliament and supreme court, in an attempt to protect shareholders from the consummation of private benefits of control, essentially shifted the agency costs embedded in internal governance of corporations from the corporations’ outside shareholders to the corporations’ counterparties. In this article, I hypothesize that this idiosyncratic outcome came about as an ill-considered, knee-jerk reaction to the asset-stripping excesses, often dubbed “tunneling,” that resulted from the country’s voucher privatization scheme in the early 1990s. To test the hypothesis, I compare-against […]
17 Colum. J. Eur. L. 1 (2010) Franck Lecomte, Teaching Fellow, Labour Studies Institute, Lyon, France; Ph. D. Candidate, European University Institute, Florence, Italy. The most recent European employment law saga arising from Viking, Laval, and subsequent decisions has commonly been understood as perpetuating the infiltration of economic provisions into labor legislation. It has also been asserted, however, that these cases contain contradictory arguments, which offer a multifaceted narrative. The new construction ofArticle 151 TFEU (ex Article 136 EC) is of particular interest. Considered to be the cornerstone of European employment policy, this provision had generally been regarded as programmatic. During the past few years, however, it has progressively metamorphosed into a substantive rule […]
16 Colum. J. Eur. L. 321 (2010) Agnieszka Janczuk, LLM, PhD Candidate, European University Institute. Recent legislative developments in the field of payment services in the European Union aim at building a uniform European payments market. The creation of an internal market for payments has been the result of both industry self-regulation and public regulation. The Payment Services Directive (PSD) and Regulation 924/2009 support and complement the private regulatory regime developed by the banking sector’s European Payments Council, the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). The PSD provides a legal framework for SEPA by harmonizing certain core payments provisions, while Regulation 924/2009 substantially enabled the launch of SEPA Direct Debit by laying down the […]
16 Colum. J. Eur. L. 303 (2010) Marco Amorese, Ph.D., UniversitA degli Studi di Brescia, LL.M. Harvard Law School, J.D. University of Milan, Studio legale Amorese. In the cases in comment, the European Court of Justice tries to clarify two crucial concepts in the area of services of general interest: (a) the definition of concession and (b) the scope of the “in-house” exception. The strict definition so far formulated has prompted local bodies to create very complex and inefficient corporate governances in companies awarded services of general interest. The European Court of Justice seems to have taken a more permissive tack that should give local bodies more ample maneuvering power in operating […]
16 Colum. J. Eur. L. 261 (2010) Ira Lindsay When the Soviet Union collapsed, many observers hoped that decollectivization would improve the infamously inefficient Soviet agricultural sector and raise collective farm workers out of poverty. The initial results of market reform in Russian agriculture were a severe disappointment in both respects. Under Putin, Russia finally allowed agricultural land to be bought and sold. The effects of this latest reform neither met the expectations of its supporters nor realized the fears of its opponents. Russia’s experience with land reform suggests that while private ownership of farmland may offer significant advantages, successful land reform requires much more than the creation of legal rights. This Article […]
16 Colum. J. Eur. L. 233 (2010) Brian Sawers, J.D., Harvard; A.B., Duke. Heller explains the underperformance and informality of retail in transition Russia as the consequence of botched privatization. He calls this outcome anticommons: too many people hold a veto, leading to underuse. Heller argues that the existence of too many overlapping property rights prevents entrepreneurs from opening brick-and-mortar shops in Russia. The ubiquity of kiosks, however, is better explained by other factors. Kiosks are smaller investments than storefronts, hence their ubiquity in a credit-constrained environment. In addition, taxes, corruption, organized crime, and favor-exchange networks all discourage scale. Retail is informal in Russia for the same reasons it is informal in other […]
16 Colum. J. Eur. L. 191 (2010) Mattias Derlin & Johan Lindholm, Doctors of Law and Senior Lecturers in Law at Umea University, Sweden In June 2009 the European Court of Justice (E.C.J) decided the Mickelsson case (C-142/05). Mickelsson concerns the application of the (in)famous Article 28 E.C. prohibiting practical obstacles to the free movement of goods within the European Union. The meaning of Article 28 is notoriously vague and has given rise to extensive case law. Mickelsson brings attention to a little discussed dimension of Article 28 E. C.: the fact that rules on use (i.e. national measures regulating how, when, and by whom goods can be used) can constitute practical […]
16 Colum. J. Eur. L. 171 (2010) David Marrani, Lecturer in public and comparative law, School of Law, University of Essex. It was with great hope and spirit that the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union began in 2008. The French President was extremely proud to add to his many titles that of President of the European Council. In the welcome message posted on the French Presidency’s official website, it was made clear that France wanted “to be back in Europe. ” That said, communication between the French Republic and the European Institutions has not always been forthright, and these tumultuous relationships have been especially difficult in the […]
16 Colum. J. Eur. L. 161 (2009) Tim Connor, University of Bradford, School of Law
16 Colum. J. Eur. L. 131 (2009) Casey W. Halladay, B.A. (Hons.), M.A., LL.B., LL.M., ofthe Bars of England and Wales, New York, and Ontario. Partner, Studio Legale Amorese, Bergamo, Italy and London, U.K. In an important clarification of the rights of merger parties and the responsibilities of the European Commission (“the Commission “) in merger review under the E.C. Merger Regulation (E.C.M.R.), the European Court of First Instance (C. F. I.) recently released its decision in MyTravel Group v. Commission. At issue in MyTravel was the Commission’s potential liability to merger parties under Article 288 E.C. Treaty for errors committed in reviewing a merger notified under the E.C.M.R. MyTravel represents an […]
16 Colum. J. Eur. L. 121 (2009) Krishan Thakker, Columbia Law School/King’s College London, J.D./LL.B. Candidate, Class of 2010. This Note examines the monopolistic nature of the conduct of collecting societies within the E. U. and how developments in E.C. competition law are rendering previously lawful conduct unlawful. It also analyzes the changes in the role of collecting societies in light of the developments in online music distribution and digital rights management. The conflict between collecting societies within the European Union, European Community competition law, and copyright law as it relates to musical works has recently become a controversial area of increasing dominance in legal processes. E. C. competition law has dealt […]
16 Colum. J. Eur. L. 81 (2009) Ronan McCrea, Référendaire (judicial clerk), European Court of Justice This Article examines the use, and limitations on the use, of religion as a source of law in the legal order of the European Union. It reveals how religion is recognized by the Union as an element of its constitutional values but how, at the same time, this role is balanced by the recognition of potentially competing humanist and cultural influences. Similarly, although E.U. law recognizes the particular contribution of religious bodies in the areas of law and policy-making, it also preserves a balance between the religious and secular humanist elements of the Union’s ethical inheritance […]
16 Colum. J. Eur. L. 67 (2009) Inge Govaere, Professor of Eur. Law, Ghent Univ. and Dir. of the Eur. Legal Studies Dep’t, College of Eur. in Brussels The pending Lisbon Reform Treaty and the 2007 Internal Market Modernization Package both raise new questions with respect to the future direction to be taken by E.U. internal market law. This Article scrutinizes the most likely changes in approach and recalls the core principles of the internal market concept as it has evolved over time. Attention is paid in particular to the potential impact of the current internal market modernization process on other related and potentially conflicting policies, such as social, environmental, […]