Economic Law in the EU: How to Ensure Adequate Convergence After the Brexit?

International Workshop

Organized by the C.R.I.D.E.S, Law Faculty, UCLouvain, Belgium
Scientific coordination: Prof. Alain Strowel, Alexia Autenne & Henri Culot
online registration

On March 25, 2017, the European Union will celebrate the 60th birthday of the Treaty of Rome. The construction of Europe started with a focus on the internal market and the economy.

Today there is still a lack of convergence in the rules governing the economy and, despite the adoption of a common currency, no common economic, social, fiscal or budgetary policy. With the perspective of the Brexit, it appears timely to ask what could and should be achieved to ensure additional convergence of the economic rules within the most integrated part of the EU, the Eurozone. This could indeed lead to real gains for the entrepreneurs, the workers, the innovators, the consumers and, beyond, the European citizens.

The workshop organized by the research center on economic law of the University of Louvain aims to reflect on the need and possible merits of additional convergence in several areas of economic law (corporate law, intellectual property and e-commerce law, tax law, labor and social law).
This convergence could take the form of additional harmonization or unification or even codification, depending on the area under consideration.
The workshop draws on the recent work conducted by leading academic experts under the supervision of the Association Henri Capitant (La construction européenne en droit des affaires: acquis et perspectives, Paris, L.G.D.J., 2016).

The workshop also aims to raise the public awareness about the need for further convergence and thus ends with a stakeholders’ panel. A further step could be the setting-up of an international expert Committee to study the feasibility of additional convergence within economic law.

9.00-10.30 Towards More Convergence of Economic Law in the EU
-Moderation and discussion: Prof. Alexia Autenne, UCLouvain and Alain Strowel, UCLouvain and USL-B, Belgium
-Panelists: Prof. Dr. Matthias Lehmann, Martin-Luther Universität Hall-Wittenberg, Germany and Prof. Nicolas Thirion, ULg, Belgium

Coffee Break

11.00-12.00 Intellectual Property and e-Commerce Law
-Moderation and discussion: Prof. Alain Strowel, UCLouvain, Belgium
-Panelists: Prof. Nicolas Binctin, Université de Poitiers, France and Prof. Christoph Busch, Universität Osnabrück, Germany and European Law Institute

12.00-13.00 Labor and Social Law
-Moderation and discussion: Prof. Filip Dorssemont, UCLouvain, Belgium
-Panelists: Georges Dassis, President of the European Economic and Social Committee and Mélanie Schmitt, Assistant Prof., Université de Strasbourg

Walking lunch

14.00-15.00 Corporate Law
-Moderation and discussion: Prof. Henri Culot, UCLouvain, Belgium
-Panelists: Prof. Isabelle Corbisier, University of Luxembourg and Prof. Dr. Jessica Schmidt, Universität Bayreuth, Germany

15.00-16.00 Tax Law
-Moderation and discussion: Prof. Edoardo Traversa, UCLouvain, Belgium
-Panelists: Prof. Daniel Gutmann, Université de Paris 1-Panthéon Sorbonne, France and Prof. Pasquale Pistone, University of Salerno, Italy, Academic chairman of International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation and Jean Monnet Chair in tax law and policy at WU Wien

Coffee Break

16.30-18.00 Stakeholders, Experts and EU Institutions : Is there a Need and a Way to Ensure More Convergence in Economic Law in Europe?

-Moderation: Prof. Alain Strowel, UCLouvain, Belgium
-Representatives of interested parties (10 min. each):
Philippe Lambrecht (Fédération des Entreprises de Belgique-Verbond van Belgische Ondernemingen), Esther Lynch (European Trade Union Confederation), G.-A. Dal (Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe)
-Associations and Fondations (5 min. each): Prof. Nicolas Binctin (Poitiers) for the Association Henri Capitant, Wolfgang Heusel (Director of ERA) for the Academy of European Law and Prof. Denis Philippe (UCLouvain) for the European Law Institute
-European institutions (TBC): (10 min. each): Alain Lamassoure (TBC) (Member of the European Parliament), Martin Selmayr or Luc Tholoniat or Antoine Kasel (TBC) (Member of the cabinet of Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission)

18.00 Close of the workshop

Contact catherine.vanderlinden@uclouvain.be t +32 (0)10 47 47 58

Online registration :

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