RICERCA ITALIANA     

Research program

EUROPEAN PRIVATE LAW BETWEEN INTERNAL MARKET AND EUROPEAN CITIZENSHIP

University Co-ordinator

Università degli Studi ROMA TRE - STUDI INTERNAZIONALI - ()

Research Unit Leader

Raffaele Torino

Description

The aim of this search is verify if the point of reference of the European private law’s development, especially with regard to consumers’ right and corporate law, could be not only the European Common Market, intended as synonym of common space and common law and in the contest of the exercise of the four fundamental freedoms (free circulation of goods, people, services and capitals), but also (and how much) the European Citizenship. In this respect the European citizenship is intended as a condition of subjectivity, that could represent, connected with the National identity, a matching point between the multiple law sources (local, national, European) so to become a turning point in the multi – level law system based on the "principle of proximity" (under which the decisions implying rules ought to be taken as near as possible to the citizens) and "the principle of subsidiarity" (under which matters the normative competences are distributed through the different authorities’ levels, considering their adequacy to the respective aims). In this way the resulting law system will be based upon transnational fundamental values and rights which shall underline the importance of the human person for both elaborating and executing rules. Particular attention shall be paid to values and principles as human dignity, freedom, equality, solidarity and justice, which the Treaty of Nice joins to the European Citizenship.
To this aim, at first, it will be conducted a search concerning the reconnaissance of European private law in consumers’ rights and corporate law fields, with regard to European, national, legislative, judicial and doctrinal level. Such phase (lasting six – eight months) shall aim to verify if the development of the European private law, in the past and in the future, respects the fundamental values of "European citizenship", as dignity, freedom, equity, solidarity and justice, or it only aimed to reach more effectively and efficiently economical integration between EC State Members.
During the second phase of the search (lasting until the end of the project), it will be verified if the European Citizenship becoming the fundamental principle of European Union in exchange of European Common Market, considering the values connected to the European Citizenship, could lead the private law’s progress towards compactness in the whole Europe. The result should be an European private law which makes people more used to the market, for making exchanges, having relationships between one another, practising professional or corporate activities. This "type" of European private law shall also clarify the procedures, ensuring more duties and rights of information and increasing the access to consumerism. In this way it could be guaranteed a more incisive control on parity and uniformity which are regarded as primary targets in European Union. The results of this second phase of the search will be published.
As instrument of link between the two phases of the search, there will be a confrontation at European level, realised during an international meeting, hopefully with the representatives of the major European research groups in the field of the European private law and the EC Institutions having part in it. This meeting will be centred on European Citizenship and its values as fundamental principle of European private law’s interpretation and developments.