Between Competition And Free Movement: The Economic Constitutional Law Of The European Community

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This book takes as its starting point the interaction and gaps between the free movement and competition rules of the EC Treaty, and is the first book-length treatment of the topic. Competition and free movement are well known as fundamental elements of the Community legal order and are normally treated separately by different specialists. Hence their interaction has received less doctrinal analysis. This work bridges the gap and examines the interaction of these disparate rules using a framework which is defined by the author as the economic constitutional law of the European Community. The book then examines specific issues such as the economic orientation of the constitution of the Community, the structure and principles of interpretation relating to it, or the gaps presented by this structure and the ways in which they have been filled by the European Court of Justice. Particular attention is given to two important topics: the possible extension of the application of the free movement rules to protectionist private conduct and that of the competition rules or principles extracted from them to State action. The problem of the public/private divide, a pressing one for contemporary constitutionalism and societies, is a major concern for the chapters devoted to these topics, and it is seen by the author as the central question of the economic constitutional law of the Community.

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BETWEEN COMPETITION AND FREE MOVEMENT Between Competition and Free Movement The Economic Constitutional Law of the European Community JULIO BAQUERO CRUZ OXFORD – PORTLAND OREGON 2002 Hart Publishing Oxford and Portland, Oregon Published in North America (US and Canada) by Hart Publishing c/o International Specialized Book Services 5804 NE Hassalo Street Portland, Oregon 97213-3644 USA Distributed in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg by Intersentia, Churchillaan 108 B2900 Schoten Antwerpen Belgium © Julio Baquero Cruz 2002 Julio Baquero Cruz has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, to be identified as the author of this work Hart Publishing is a specialist legal publisher based in Oxford, England. To order further copies of this book or to request a list of other publications please write to: Hart Publishing, Salter’s Boatyard, Folly Bridge, Abingdon Road, Oxford OX1 4LB Telephone: +44 (0)1865 245533 or Fax: +44 (0)1865 794882 e-mail: [email protected] WEBSITE: http//www.hartpub.co.uk British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data Available ISBN 1–84113–336–3 (hardback) Typeset by Hope Services (Abingdon) Ltd. Printed and bound in Great Britain on acid-free paper by Biddles Ltd, www.biddles.co.uk Foreword The book we present to the public was originally a PhD dissertation brilliantly defended by the author before the Law Department of the European University Institute, at Florence. We were the two supervisors of this thesis, a rather passive role in this case, considering the dynamism and talents of the candidate. The book deals with a specific problem of economic Community law: the interaction, gaps and loopholes between competition and free movement. These apparently classical problems concerning the application of free movement rules to private persons and of competition rules to public authorities are dealt with from a constitutional perspective. The subject is indeed about filling gaps in the economic constitutional law of the Community. The author starts from what he calls an operational or workable (legal) concept of the constitution, which he draws from the traditions of constitutionalism as it has evolved beyond the liberal concept of the XIXth century, in Europe and in the United States. His definition of t