"Foreword" [2016] ELECD 437; in Kalimo, Harri; Jansson, S. Max (eds), "EU Economic Law in a Time of Crisis" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2016) x

Book Title: EU Economic Law in a Time of Crisis

Editor(s): Kalimo, Harri; Jansson, S. Max

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781785365812

Section Title: Foreword

Number of pages: 2

Abstract/Description:

This book seeks to contribute to the debate about the EU’s economic crisis by analysing how it affected the development of economic law in the Union during the Barroso II Commission. The areas of EU economic law analysed in this book cover the EMU and the internal market, and particular attention is paid to the fields of public procurement, taxation and intellectual property rights. As cornerstones to Europe 2020 strategy, the latter three fields seem crucial to finding a way out of the crisis. The developments in the noted fields of law are scrutinized from four cross-cutting perspectives: harmonization, institutions, non-economic values and international actions. Kalimo and Jansson find the variances in how the areas of economic law have developed noteworthy, because the core of the crisis has gradually extended towards the real economy; growth, competitiveness and investments. The book’s conclusion is that during the crisis the attention of the Barroso Commission has focused too narrowly on selected urgent problems, failing to spark off bold policy endeavours and to break inter-institutional blockades and interest captures on fundamental longer-term issues. An important part of the challenge remains the appropriate integration of social considerations into the measures. So while certainly not wasted, the crisis has not been optimally exploited for the development of EU economic law, either.