Regulating Trade in Services in the EU and the WTO : Trust, Distrust and Economic Integration

Abstract

This volume assesses the viability of various theories of economic integration that take into account the legal, economic, political and social challenges of incorporating free trade with retaining the plurality of social welfare standards and consumer protection. Chapters cover the governance of trade in services at the European and global level; studies on the recent Services Directive and how this interacts with the principle of managed mutual recognition and harmonization in different sectors of trade in services (social services, financial services); the recent case law of the European Courts on the enforcement of the principle of free movement of services and how this accommodates various national public interest concerns; and the interaction of the freedom to provide services with fundamental rights, including social rights. The operation of the principle of managed mutual recognition in other economic integration regimes, in particular in the context of the WTO, is also discussed.