Bronckers, Marco --- "The Domestic Law Effect of the WTO in the EU – A Dialogue with Jacques Bourgeois" [2011] ELECD 783; 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: Chapter 15

Section Title: The Domestic Law Effect of the WTO in the EU – A Dialogue with Jacques Bourgeois

Author(s): Bronckers, Marco

Number of pages: 17

Extract:

15. The domestic law effect of the
WTO in the EU ­ a dialogue with
Jacques Bourgeois
Marco Bronckers*

Jacques Bourgeois has been a professional mentor for me ever since I
became his stagiaire in 1981 when he was a prominent member of the
external relations division of the European Commission's Legal Service. He
taught me the intricacies of European trade policy, as well as the vicissi-
tudes of the Community's membership of the GATT and subsequently the
WTO. His blend of intellectual rigour and forward thinking, coupled with
an eye for the possible, has always held special appeal for me. On a wide
variety of issues we have thought alike, that is to say I have come to think
like him. I cherish the fact that over the years we have become good
personal friends too and so have our families.
On this happy occasion of Jacques' Festschrift, I want to revisit a topic
that has preoccupied me on and off for many years, and see how the
position where I have ended up compares with that of Jacques'. That topic
is the domestic law effect of the WTO in the European legal order. It is a
topic that has intrigued scores of European scholars and practitioners. In
fact, in this volume Piet Eeckhout and Ernst-Ulrich Petersmann devote
chapters to it as well.
Bourgeois has addressed this topic on many occasions, at conferences,
seminars and in papers. To compare our views, I will notably refer to a
...