Last year's review of legal developments largely focused on the European Union's regulatory response to the global financial and economic crisis in the sphere of financial market regulation and supervision. Yet, this crisis has also revealed the shrotcomings in the system of economic governance in European economic and monetary union (EMU). Indeed, in parallel and to some extent triggered by the financial market crisis, there was a dramatic deterioration of the budgetary position of several Member States resulting in the quasi-insolvency of a eurozone country. Adapted from the source document.
A discussion of the key 2004 legal developments for the European Union highlights cases & judicial decisions concerning the free movement & equal treatment of EU citizens, economic & monetary union, community competition law, discrimination of sexual minorities, the principle of supremacy, & Member State & EU noncontractual liability. J. Zendejas
In the view of some, 2012 should first and foremost be remembered as the year in which the European Union (EU) received the Noble Peace Prize. In the opinion of the Nobel Committee: 'the union and its forerunners have for over six decades contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe'. It can hardly be denied that the gradual juridification of the idea of the building of Europe through concrete steps, starting with the signing of the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in May 1952, has made a -- if not the most important -- contribution in this regard. The geographic advancing of the principles and rules on which European integration was built took place mainly, albeit not exclusively, through the accession of new countries to the European Communities (and later EU). The Union continued on this path also in 2012, as a referendum in Croatia paved the way for its accession to the EU in 2013 and, moreover, candidate status was formally granted to Serbia. The advances also continue on a more substantive level, as Monar's contribution to this issue on developments in the sphere of justice and home affairs highlights. However, arguably more than anything else, 2012 will be marked as yet another year in which the EU was largely preoccupied with crisis management, as well as the continued reinforcement of economic policy co-ordination in the eurozone and financial market supervision. Adapted from the source document.
In many regards, 2010 will be remembered as the year in which the Union was preoccupied with dealing with the fallout of the global financial and economic crisis that began in mid-2007. It was the year in which the Union formulated its regulatory response to the turmoil in the global financial markets that hit European financial institutions with full force, while at the same time dealing with the dramatic financial situation of several eurozone Member States. It is therefore these two events that form the main focus of this article. Adapted from the source document.
