Regulating the periphery : shaking the core European identity building through the lens of contract law

Abstract

The impetus for this research stems from the assumption that by regulating the periphery of any legal relationship, the core is necessarily – to a lesser or greater extent depending on the circumstances – shook. The legal relationship we will evaluate in this contribution is that of contract law. Contract law is used as the basis to test the hypothesis that peripheral forces, in this instance increased regulation at the EU level, coupled with equal treatment, fundamental rights and EU citizenship, and, even more so, judicial intervention by the CJEU, are chipping away at the core of contract law in the Member States. The results of this, it is argued, are contributing to the European identity-building project.