Lenaerts, Koen --- "Foreword: Koen Lenaerts" [2011] ELECD 765; in Govaere, Inge; Quick, Reinhard; Bronckers, Marco (eds), "Trade and Competition Law in the EU and Beyond" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: Trade and Competition Law in the EU and Beyond

Editor(s): Govaere, Inge; Quick, Reinhard; Bronckers, Marco

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9780857935663

Section Title: Foreword: Koen Lenaerts

Author(s): Lenaerts, Koen

Number of pages: 2

Extract:

Foreword
Koen Lenaerts*
It is a great privilege to write a foreword to this Festschrift, which is being
offered to Jacques Bourgeois on the occasion of his 75th birthday.
When, last year, I was asked to contribute to the Festschrift, my first
reaction was: `Is he 65 already?' So it is even harder for me to believe that
Jacques turns 75 this August. He doesn't seem to have aged in the slightest
since we first met many years ago. The passing of time has certainly not
affected his work, his energy or his enthusiasm for the law.
Jacques' career has been a rich one. To borrow the words of the EU
motto, it is characterized by `unity in diversity'. The practice of European
and international law, and in particular of competition law and of trade
law, is the unifying factor, while the different perspectives from which
Jacques has practised the law provide the elements of diversity.
As a 30-year-old man, Jacques joined the European Commission, the
institution that is the guardian of the European Treaties. As one would
expect of the outstanding person we are honouring in this book, he rose
rapidly through the ranks and served for several years as head of the Trade
Policy Instruments Division in the Directorate General for External Rela-
tions. From 1987 to 1991, he was principal legal adviser to the Commission,
first in respect of foreign trade policy and later of antitrust policy.
In 1991, his professional career underwent a ...