The contemporary context of intensifying imperial and geo-economic rivalries poses an unprecedented threat to the EU’s capacity for democratic self-governance. For a Union without an agile Executive that has accumulated most of its political leverage through regulatory standard-setting in its sprawling internal market, this challenge raises anew fundamental questions about the market-democracy nexus.
- As fast-moving transnational private power and major imperial states challenge its bureaucratic modus operandi, how can EU economic law build on an institutional and legal architecture of independence (competition authorities, European Central Bank, etc.) to address the resulting sovereignty- and democracy-related concerns?
- To what extent should an already entrenched reliance on independent institutions constrain democracy in the name of sovereignty and economic stability?
- And what does it mean for core domains of EU economic law, such as monetary policy, competition policy, media regulation, platform regulation or trade policy, to become new sites of democratic contestation and geopolitical rivalry?
Bringing together a variety of scholars and methodological approaches (socio-legal, critical, law and political economy, and law-in-context) which share an interest in the market-democracy relationship, this seminar series will review how key domains of EU economic law are evolving in the context of this geopolitical and geo-economic challenge.
This seminar is the first of five sessions scheduled between March and July 2026. Please click here or the register button to sign up to our mailing list to receive meeting links and preparatory materials for the sessions.