Author Description

<p><br/><br/><br />In considering either the EU Services Directive or WTO rules on <br/>services, it is clear that the goal in each case is the same: the removal of <br/>obstacles to the free movement of services. However, a number of formidable <br/>forces &#8211; including the anti-globalisation movement, other civil society <br/>groups, and some EU Member States &#8211; have raised concerns regarding the effect <br/>of liberalization of services on the quality and availability of public <br/>services such as health care and education, and the compatibility of such <br/>liberalization with social policy objectives. Thus it is clear that the <br/>central question at both EU and WTO level is how to balance the proper <br/>functioning of the services market and the realization of general interest <br/>issues.<br/></p><br/><p><br/>This book, which is the outcome of a 2006 conference organized by the Europa <br/>Institute of Utrecht and edited at the Radboud University Nijmegen, makes a <br/>major contribution to improving the understanding of services liberalization <br/>and its limits in both the scholarly and public debate. Eleven well-known <br/>authorities in European and international (economic) law deal incisively with <br/>such crucial issues as the following:<br/></p><br/><ul><br/><br/><br/><li><br/>the influence of the EU Services Directive on the national legal orders of the <br/>Member States;<br/></li><br/><li><br/>the relationship between EU law on the liberalization of services and <br/>fundamental rights;<br/></li><br/><li><br/>the case law of the ECJ on services of general economic interest;<br/></li><br/><li><br/>prospects for harmonization of services of general economic interest at EU <br/>level;<br/></li><br/><li><br/>the impact of public procurement law on services;<br/></li><br/><li><br/>interrelation of WTO rules and the EU law on services; and<br/></li><br/><li><br/>how public interest issues are accommodated in WTO law.<br/></li><br/></ul><br/