We’re happy to announce that Lexxion publisher has become a media partner to the FIDE Congress, one of the most distinguished events on EU law. Of particular interest for the readers of the State Aid blog and the EStAL quarterly is the second topic of the congress, dedicated to the new geopolitical dimension of the EU competition and trade policies. We recommend the panels on the design of the EU’s search for strategic autonomy and on the role of State aid and foreign subsidies regulation in the EU’s pivot towards industrial policy. You can find more details about the congress, its speakers and programme below (note: early bird registration by end of March). We hope to see you in Sofia!
The International Federation of European Law (FIDE), announced a visionary XXX edition of the FIDE Congress, which is planned to take place in Sofia from the 31 May to 3 June 2023.
The topics which will be discussed at the congress are all united in one common thread: Defining the constitutional, economic and social physiognomy of the Union. These topics are focused on the strategic development and the future of the European Union and aim at generating propositions and new ideas.
Among the keynote speakers are Koen Lenaerts, President of the Court of Justice of the European Union, Marc van der Woude, President of the General Court of the European Union, Guy Verhofstadt, Member of the European Parliament, Co-Chair of the Conference on the Future of Europe, Serhiy Holovaty, Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, Stephan Harbarth, President of the German Federal Constitutional Court. The full list of speakers, as well as the programme of the conference, can be found on the congress website.
The first topic – “Mutual Trust, Mutual Recognition and the Rule of Law” – aims to shift the debate from focusing on events in certain Member States to wider conceptual and constitutional questions. It thus has the overarching objective to examine whether these principles are capable of forming the very backbone of the constitutional identity of the European Union, and therefore become the foundation of the of EU law. On a more specific basis, new developments will also be discussed such as the economic consequences of the deficiencies of the rule of law (Regime of Conditionality for the Protection of Union Budget in the cases of breaches of the principles of the rule of law in the member States). More importantly, the debate has so far been mostly structured on a “top down” approach, that is to say the mechanisms that EU institutions have at their disposal in order to examine compliance with the principles of mutual trust, mutual recognition and the rule of law on the national level. The topic will expand the debate by examining its “horizontal” dimension, addressing the way national courts examine the deficiencies of the rule of law in their own Member State, as well in other Member States in the context of applying the various instruments of judicial cooperation. It will also discuss the often under-estimated “bottom-up” dimension of the debate, that is to say how breaches of these principles on the national level can have consequences on the Union itself, by eroding its own constitutional identity.
The general rapporteur for the first topic is Miguel Poiares Maduro, Former Advocate General at the Court of Justice of the EU and Professor at Católica University, Lisbon and the School of Transnational Governance of the European University Institute, Florence. The institutional rapporteurs are Clemens Ladenburger, Deputy Director-General of the Legal Service of the European Commission, Jonathan Tomkin and Yona Marinova from the Legal Service of the European Commission.
The second topic – “The new geopolitical dimension of the EU competition and trade policies” – is fast becoming the new “hot” topic in EU economic law. It is the focal point of several different branches of law: competition law, trade law and investment law through the prism of industrial policy with the objective to achieve the strategic economic autonomy of the Union. At a time when EU competition and trade policy is being redefined with the objective to support a green and digital recovery and to promote investment in key sectors, some key notions may need to be revisited in order to take into account the new realities. Issues such as “European champions” or the lack thereof, killer acquisitions, security concerns linked to foreign direct investment, foreign subsidies and the securing of strategic value chains will inevitably be discussed. For example, it may be necessary to consider what forms of strategic cooperation in sustainability initiatives or in securing the autonomy of strategic value chains are possible without infringing Article 101 (1) TFEU and/or are capable of being justified under Article 101 (3) TFEU. This topic will also provide the opportunity to discuss if “a new economic constitutionalism” is likely to emerge – a concept which reflects a constitutional shift in the EU integration process. Thus, the elements of a new ‘Political economy’ of the Union could be outlined. In this context and on this basis the Union will be in a position to shape the world around it through leadership which reflects its strategic interests and values.
The general rapporteurs for this topic are Jean-François Bellis, who teaches EU competition law at several universities and is a founding partner of Van Bael & Bellis law firm and Isabelle Van Damme, lecturer on WTO Jurisprudence and Legal Advocacy at several universities and partner at Van Bael & Bellis law firm. The institutional rapporteur is Ben Smulders, Deputy Director General of the Directorate General for Competition of the European Commission.
The third topic is entitled “European Social Union”. The purpose of this topic is to discuss the development and strengthening of a true and meaningful EU social dimension. It is often thought that while European economic integration leads the way in European affairs, social coherence and social integration often lag behind. The topic thus aims at conceptualizing the idea of a European Social Union as a way of bringing the EU closer to its citizens.
It will address a number of issues amongst which feature specifically the following: conflicts between free movement rights and social rights, the importance of the Charter-based “solidarity” rights, the impact of free movement on the demographic crisis and the adjacent “brain drain” phenomenon which has ravaged Eastern and Central Europe, as well as parts of Southern Europe, EU trade policy and labour rights’ protection, social justice and solidarity as common values of the Union.
This brings us to another central tenet of European integration: the principle of solidarity as an integral part of the constitutional identity of the EU.
This mutual infiltration of values and principles between different areas of the Union’s legal order is a characteristic feature of this order and of the Union itself and of its constitutional identity which has evolved ‘From a Community of Law to a Union of Values’.
The general rapporteur for the third topic is Sophie Robin-Olivier, Professor of Law at the Sorbonne school of Law and the institutional rapporteur is Sacha Graben, Professor of EU Law, College of Europe, Bruges.
