Lecture Series The European Union as Global International Actor: strategic autonomy in a changing international context

The Department of Law of the Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance of the University of Luxembourg, with the support of the Luxembourg National Research Fund and the Erasmus + Programme of the European Commission, and in collaboration with the Luxembourg Centre for European Law, is organising this lecture.

Prof. Wolfgang Weiß, German Unversity for Administrative Sciences Speyer

(Supported by the Luxembourg National Research Fund, RESCOM/2024/LE/18832235 and the Erasmus + Programme of the European Union, ERASMUS-JMO-2024-HEI-TCH-RSCH)

Opening: 11h45

A lunch will be served on site.

Abstract

Regulation 2022/2560 on foreign subsidies distorting the internal market is a new piece of legislation that follows the reorientation of the EU's trade policy in 2021 in the pursuit of greater strategic autonomy. The regulation aims to provide the EU with the necessary tools to counter distortions of competition in the internal market caused by subsidies from third countries. It aims to ensure a level playing field for all companies operating in the EU. As the remedies provided for in the FSR also affect the internal market behaviour or presence of foreign companies operating in the EU and thus have an impact on the EU's external trade, the new legislation is a mixture of trade and competition policy. The first experiences with the application of the FSR confirm that the new instrument raises a number of interpretive, conceptual and practical questions. While the rationale for this new legislative instrument is perfectly understandable, there are considerable doubts as to whether this Regulation is the right way to achieve a more level playing field. Critics argue that the Regulation achieves its objective of ensuring a level playing field only by creating new bureaucracy, by giving the European Commission broad powers and a very wide margin of manoeuvre on the basis of extensive and complex assessments, and by introducing considerable legal uncertainty and unpredictability as a result of undefined legal terms. Whether the Regulation can really be seen as an instrument for fairer competition in the EU's internal market will therefore depend to a large extent on how the rules are applied in practice by the Commission (also in the light of EU constraints arising from EU obligations under WTO and FTA rules) and how the third countries concerned react, as the FRS may trigger a new spiral of discriminatory behaviour.

Speaker

Prof. Dr Wolfgang Weiß holds the Chair in Public Law, Public International Law and EU Law at the German University of Administrative Sciences in Speyer/Germany. Before, he was professor of public law and of international law at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and the Oxford Brookes Unversity. His main areas of research are the Law of the European Union, European Economic Law and International Economic Law. His most recent books are: Open Strategic Autonomy in EU Trade Policy (Cambridge University Press, 2024; together with Cornelia Furculita) and The Regulation on Foreign Subsidies Distorting the Internal Market. A Path to a Level Playing Field? (Springer, 2024)

Location

University of Luxembourg

Campus Kirchberg - Weicker Building

Room A401 (fourth floor)

4, rue Alphonse Weicker, L-2721 Luxembourg

Language

English

RESCOM/24/18832235

The European Union as global international actor: strategic autonomy in a changing international context

Past Lectures

27 January: Greening International Investment Law, Prof. Joanna Lam, University of Copenhagen. Discussant: Dr Günes Ünüvar, Luxembourg Centre for European Law (LCEL)

10 March: European Strategic Autonomy and European Values in the Context of Crisis, Prof. Federico Casolari, University of Bologna. Discussant: Prof. Ramses Wessel, University of Groningen

4 April: Digital Strategic Autonomy in the EU’s External Action, Prof. Elaine Fahey, City University of London. Discussants: Prof. Stefan Braum, University of Luxembourg, Prof. Herwig Hofmann, University of Luxembourg

8 May: Protecting EU Interests: The Unilateral Turn in EU Trade and Investment Policy, Prof. Isabelle Van Damme, World Trade Institute and University of Bern. Discussant: Dr. Thomas Verellen, Utrecht University

19 May: Facing the Security Challenge, Prof Isabelle Bosse Platière, University of Rennes, Discussant: Prof Peter Van Elsuwege, University of Ghent, Dr Luigi Lonardo, University College Cork

Upcoming lectures

16 June: Sustainable Development and Strategic Autonomy in the EU’s Bilateral Relations, Prof Francesca Ippolito, University of Cagliari, Dr Jed Odermatt, City University of London

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