Across The EUniverse – Number Eleven

The word on the street is that the EU is in crisis. It is attached by terrorists, there is a wave of immigrants that will swamp our culture, the Brits are thinking about leaving. The editors of Across have been working in EU affairs collectively for more than 60 years. And we are not aware of any period in the EU’s history where there was not a crisis. In the early 1960s President De Gaulle for France refused to partake in decision making unless he got a veto on all decisions. In the 1970s the EEC went comatose as Europe faced up to the cold war and agreed to face down its internal terrorists and counter Soviet missiles. In the 1980s Mrs Thatcher claimed her money back and nearly broke the budget. At that time too Agriculture was becoming a massive drain on the system. In the 1990s the constitutional need to give more power to the democratically elected parliament was a fight that led to Treaty change after Treaty change. You are all more aware of the crises of the 2000s and the 2010s. The EU thrives on crises and continues to build law in the interests of its citizens and companies doing business in the single market.

In this issue we look at Comission’s new initiative, “Your Voice In Europe” whereby European citizens and stakeholders will be consulted about their views on the development of different EU policies; we also count with a newly-made update on China MES, a good overview on innovative SMEs within the Italian legislative framework; and two complete descriptions on how real estate investment trusts work and how it has developed the Italian class action in the european scenario so far and Fabio Marelli also provides us with an interesting review of the EU Regulation on insolvency proceedings. The eleventh issue finishes with an analysis of the Circular Economy Legislative Package from 2015.