Book Review: 50 Years of the European Treaties. Looking Back and Thinking Forward
| Published date | 01 December 2010 |
| Author | Elaine Fahey |
| DOI | 10.1177/1023263X1001700407 |
| Date | 01 December 2010 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
Book Reviews
460 17 MJ 4 (2010)
conclusion appears to be conrmed by developments subsequent to the publication of
her book; the Commission has once again raised the issue of abolishment of exequatur.
Although the CJEU has expressly stated t hat the rights of defence may not be sacriced
at the altar of administrative expediency,29 it is quite l ikely that the revised Brussels I
Regulation wi ll further facilitate t he free movement of judgments. is will occur at t he
expense of the possibility of the defendant to challenge the origi nal proceedings i n the
courts before which recog nition is s ought. e pri mary role of fundamental rights, at
least wit h regard to Bru ssels I, is to shed light on the interpretation of open notions in
the Regulation rather t han as an autonomous source of rights and obligations or driving
principle as such.
‘Civil Procedure and EU Law’ is an essential book to understand the ‘why’ behind
the Union’s involvement in the area of civil procedure. To my p ersonal preference, the
book could have carried out a more in-depth analysi s of particula r legal questions, but
in all fairness, the a im of the book was not a black letter lawyer review of existing legal
instruments in the area of civil procedure. e broader insights acquired by studying
Storskrubb’s book are of g reat va lue to practitioners, public ocials and academics
alike.
Jan-Jaap Kuipers
European University Instit ute, Florence
Michael Dougan and Samanth a Currie (eds.), 50 Years of the European Treaties. Looking
Back and inking Forward, Ha rt Publishing, 2009, xx xix + 439 pp., paperback,
ISBN 978–1–84113–832–9
is collec tion of essays entitled ‘50 Years of the Eu ropean Treaties. Looking Back and
inki ng Forward’ and ed ited by Douga n and Currie, has its orig ins in a conference
held in Liverpool in 2007 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of
Rome. A diverse and superb range of contributions consider the collec tion’s two these s
(as put i n the foreword), na mely, the ‘paradox of the resilient yet unstable basis of the
Union’s constitutional fundamentals a nd the ever-contested balance bet ween the EU’s
core economic mission and its broader social values and aspirations.’ e essays cover
diverse themes and subjects such a s institutional law, f usion theory, theories of mutual
trust, competence questions and the second and third pillars, the area of freedom,
security a nd justice, labour law, the fundamenta l freedoms and fundamental r ights and
Union citizenship. e Irish ‘no’ vote to the Treaty of Lis bon occurred subsequently to
the conference proceedings and publication thereof and places perhaps a dierent hue on
29 Case C-283/05 ASML Nethe rlands [2006] ECR I-12041.
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