15 Colum. J. Eur. L. 349 (2009) Ingolf Pernice. Professor Dr. Dr. h.c., Chair for Public, International, and European Law of the Humboldt-University of Berlin, managing director of the Walter Hallstein Institute for European Constitutional Law (WHI) of the Humboldt-University of Berlin, senior visiting fellow at the Program on Law and Public Affairs (LAPA) and visiting professor at Princeton University. This is a more elaborate version of a lecture given at Columbia Law School, New York, on October 1, 2008. For years, the European Union has struggled with its structural and constitutional self-determination, searching for a sustainable balance between confederal […]

15 Colum. J. Eur. L. 409 (2009) Rachael Mulheron. Professor, Department of Law, Queen Mary University of London. Reform of collective redress has garnered significant momentum and engendered widespread debate in England and elsewhere in Europe, particularly since 2007. Several important statutory and reform initiatives, and case law developments, have occurred across European Member States, and at the EU level, during this period. While many legal and policy conundrums have arisen for discussion, perhaps the most important question hovering above the debates and consultations on the subject can be reduced to this: opt-in or opt-out? In this Article, the author […]

15 Colum. J. Eur. L. 455 (2009) Paulina Dejmek (Dr. iur). Member of the Legal Service of the European Commission. All opinions expressed are strictly personal and the usual disclaimers apply. The article and all websites referred to reflect the situation at the end of January 2009. Major developments until mid-March 2009 have also been accounted for. Have the Community legislators provided an appropriate regulatory response to the turmoil in the financial markets and what will the future entail in this regard? This article provides an overview of the main legislative initiatives relating to the internal market in financial services presented by the European Commission during 2008, […]

15 Colum. J. Eur. L. 477 (2009) Daphne Barak-Erez. Visiting Professor, Columbia Law School (Fall 2008); Professor of Law, Stewart and Judy Colton Chair of Law and Security, Faculty of Law, Tel-Aviv University. This Article discusses the practice of comparative law from an institutional perspective—rather than asking whether importing doctrines and concepts from foreign law is a desirable practice, it asks how they are imported, why, and by whom. In this context, it also calls for a more nuanced analysis of the controversy over the use of comparative law, since the forms and the implications of using comparative law change according to the institution involved in the practice. […]

15 Colum. J. Eur. L. 495 (2009) Tim Volkheimer. Columbia Law School/University College London, J.D./LL.B. expected 2010. Co-Head Articles Editor, Columbia Journal of European Law, Volume 16. I wish to thank Mathilde Cohen, Zachary L. Craft, and Abraham Shaw for their assistance in preparing this Note. This Note discusses the tension between nationally granted patents and the establishment of a European common market. Due to patents’ territorial application and their grant of monopoly-like rights to their holders, patents partition the market along nation state lines, thus conflicting with Article 28 EC (formerly Article 30 EC) on the free movement of goods within the European common market. This conflict […]

15 Colum. J. Eur. L. 511 (2009) Giacinto della Cananea. Ph.D., The European University Institute (Florence); Professor of Public Law and E.U. Law, University of Naples “Federico II.” In the first decisions concerning the anti-terrorism measures provided by the resolutions adopted by the Security Council of United Nations (UN), the Court of First Instance (CFI) of the European Union (EU) has clearly shown deference towards political choices adopted at the global level. Such decisions were based on two assumptions: that EU institutions had to comply with UN law and that the latter took precedence over all other treaties, including those protecting human rights, such as the European Convention on […]

15 Colum. J. Eur. L. 531 (2009) Peter Van Elsuwege. Assistant Professor, Ghent University (Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence). In its judgment in Commission v. Council (C-91/05), delivered on May 20, 2008, the European Court of Justice annulled Council Decision 2004/833/CFSP, Providing a European Union Contribution to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in the Framework of the Moratorium on Small Arms and Light Weapons. Based on Article 47 EU, the Court concluded that the contested Decision, which pursues objectives not only falling within Common Foreign and Security Policy but also Community development cooperation policy, should have been adopted under the EC Treaty and not the EU Treaty. […]

15 Colum. J. Eur. L. 561 (2009) reviewed by Brendon Fleming. Executive Editor, Columbia Journal of European Law. I. INTRODUCTION: A COMPREHENSIVE PRIMER AND EASY-TO-USE REFERENCE FOR U.S. PRACTITIONERS As the European Union grows in Member States, its importance as an entity unto itself on the world stage will also continue to grow. And as the global financial crisis strains the internal partnerships of the European Union, it is ever more important for American lawyers to understand it. This six-volume set, Administrative Law of the European Union, written and edited by some of the world’s foremost experts on EU and administrative law, facilitates that understanding. American lawyers whose practices […]