The Difficult Path to an Economic Rule of Law: European Competition Policy, 1950–91.

WARLOUZET, LAURENT; WITSCHKE, TOBIAS

A historical retelling of European competition policy is crucial to understanding the discrepancy between the rules in the treaties and their implementation. The historian must navigate treacherous waters between contrasting treaty stipulations in the ECSC and in the EEC Treaties, initial attempts at rigorous implementation but with limited effect on the ground, and a complicated relationship between the supranational institutions. Only in the 1980s did the Commission enjoy the benefits of the ECJ's supportive case law. These benefits came due to a fortunate conjuncture of political, economical and administrative factors.

TREATY interpretation & construction; LAW & economics; COURT of Justice of the European Union; INTERNATIONAL competition; EUROPEAN Coal & Steel Community; EUROPEAN Economic Community; EUROPEAN Commission; EUROPEAN Union law; LAW

Contemporary European History, 2012, Vol 21, Issue 3, p437

0960-7773

Academic Journal

10.1017/S0960777312000288