A wasted crisis?

In the concluding Chapter 12, the editors to this volume, Harri Kalimo and researcher Max S. Jansson, also from the IES (VUB)) add a final layer of analysis on the basis of the area-specific enquiries of the preceding Chapters. The conclusions are framed against the book’s four, interwoven themes: they provide insights on the differences and commonalities in the areas of law in terms of the policy changes and integration, changes in the institutional landscape, the prevalence of non-economic considerations, as well as the international position of the European Union. The analysis reveals that a large part of the achievements of the crisis have indeed been about completing the EMU and the internal market for financial services, where actions were also most urgently needed. Kalimo and Jansson find the differences across the fields of economic law noteworthy, because the core of the crisis has gradually shifted towards the real economy; growth, competitiveness and investments. This calls for the Juncker Commission to focus on public procurement and intellectual property rights, which are essential in supporting progress on all three fronts. Across all the studied fields, Kalimo and Jansson conclude that the means of integration are more and more differentiated, while policy developments are becoming increasingly entangled with constitutional questions.