The RCC Director's ...

In the aftermath of the European financial crisis, the lack of risk diversification in the financial system is the main cause of the fast retrenchment of capital flows within national boundaries. Europe needs private risk sharing mechanisms to withstand asymmetric shocks, such as the recent financial crisis. In December 2014, ECMI and CEPS formed the European Capital Markets Expert Group (ECMEG) with the aim of providing a long-term contribution to the debate on the Capital Markets Union (CMU) project, proposed by the European Commission.

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This panel will explore the existing policy problems and the possible options for reforming the EU copyright framework as provided by EU Directive 29/2001 on Copyright in the Information Society (InfoSoc Directive) and related legislation, with a specific focus on the need to strengthen the Internal Market for creative content.

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The European asset management industry has witnessed a solid growth in recent years. Despite the significant steps taken in the past decade (UCITS, AIFMD, PRIPS and KIID), the European asset management sector remains highly fragmented, resulting in suboptimal size of funds and higher costs for investors. Much more needs to be done in order to achieve a truly pan-European market that is competitive, attractive and transparent vis-á-vis its investors (in particular the retail segment).

The growth of the asset management sector has directed policy-makers’ attention towards the...

Budgetary discipline in the EU is established in the Stability and Growth Pact. The pact consists of agreements between the member states on the maximum levels of their government deficits and government debts. It consists of a preventive arm and a corrective arm. At present the government deficit and goverment debt of some EU member states are higher than the agreed maximum levels. In response to the economic and financial crisis, the EU adopted new policy in 2010 that came into force in 2011.

The rules on budgetary discipline have been reinforced, agreements have been made...

The EU is facing an unprecedented crisis with very significant flows of refugees and migrants for which the current system was not designed. An initial Schengen Agreement was signed in 1985 between five countries (Benelux countries, France and Germany) targeting a gradual abolition of border checks. In 1990, these countries signed the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement, which contained a series of provisions designed to compensate for the abolition of border checks through greater cooperation in the fields of the movement of people (visas, immigration, asylum). This agreement...

The effects of the TTIP have become a highly debated issue although the European vision has not arrived adequately to the US public opinion. The majority of economic quantitative analyses have shown a beneficial impact for both the EU and the US in terms of higher aggregate trade, GDP growth, wages and job creation. Due to its sheer size, such a trade agreement could become a regulatory hegemon. This implies that the EU and the US could set global standards for commercial law, that China and other emerging economies would have little choice but to follow. However, its popularity is...

Once more, the RCC and the  RCC Director´s Jean Monnet ad personam Chair in European Law and Government at Harvard University are proud to sponsor The Summit on the Future of Europe. The Summit  is an initiative of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies (CES) at Harvard University. Since 2014, this annual conference convenes scholars and public leaders to debate critical challenges facing Europe. The fifth annual Summit is a partnership of CES, the Harvard Kennedy School’s ...

Join Professor Jose M. Martinez  as he discusses options for legal careers in the European space and in the European Union. This informal discussion will center around career paths working within the European Commission and other European Institutions as well as other public institutions in the European Space. The second part will center around working with European institutions such as consulting for the Commission, the Parliament or the OCDE.

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Cross-border dispute settlement through arbitration keeps growing at the global level, especially on bilateral investment and international tax matters. Yet, the recent Achmea judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union establishes legal constraints to ad hoc international arbitration in order to protect the due process of law. A comparison between the legal framework for arbitration in the EU and the US is of paramount importance for predicting the future use of this tool for settling cross-border disputes across the globe.

The RCC and Harvard Spain are proud to announce a special event for RCC Fellows and Harvard Spain students. Please join us for an off-the-record conversation with Joaquín Almunia about current issues and the political situation in Spain, Europe and the World. 

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The Court of Justice of the European Union issued its much-anticipated decisions on two requests for preliminary rulings concerning whether the prohibition on wearing headscarves at the workplace constitutes discrimination (C-188/15 Asma Bougnaoui, ADDH v. Micropole SA and C-157/15 Achbita v. G4S Secure Solutions NV). The decisions are trying to set out refined criteria, which would define the permissibility of limiting employees’ headscarves at work. In both cases the court held that limitations on employees’ religious headscarves can be acceptable if they are based on an internal...

The emergent Indignados movement in Spain is transforming Spanish politics and society, heralding an end to the Transition since Franco, and responding to multiple legitimation crises in Spain and in Europe. This movement is rooted in the Stop Evictions campaign led by Ada Colau in Barcelona following the bursting of the subprime mortgage bubble in the wake of the 2008; as well as the 15-M Movement arising in May 2011 Puerta del Sol of Madrid, symbolizing the Indignez-Vous outrage of a lost...

The Harvard European Law Association (HELA) is excited to announce its 2018 Symposium, taking place on Friday April 6, 2018, entitled “Europe and the US: Isolationism First?”

Throughout the past decades, Europe and the US have enjoyed relative welfare from an economic, social, and cultural perspective. As a result, foreign citizens and companies regularly seek access to the European Single Market as well as US territory. However, from travel bans to trade wars on both sides of the Atlantic, such requests for access have been met with various isolationist tendencies.

RCC is pleased to announce this event sponsored by the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies.... Read more about "Brexit Means Brexit": But What Does Brexit Mean for the UK and the EU?