The impact of European Law on national private law and the idea to harmonise larger fields of private law seemed to be less discussed in France than elsewhere in Europe. Few conferences touched upon this field and French doctrine was rather quiet on this subject. This has changed fundamentally. The Commission’s Communication on European Contract Law triggered a discussion on the desirability and necessity of a European unification of private law. Many academics voiced their concerns and Ives Lequette rejected the idea fiercely. Against this background more than 160 academics from all over France and other EU Member States participated actively in the “Colloque international sur la réception du droit communautaire en droit privé des États Membres”. The conference was organised by Jean-Sylvestre Bergé and Marie Laure Niboyet and hosted by the University Paris X-Nanterre. The discussions during this congress made clear that the severe criticism expressed by some French legal writers towards the Europeanization of private law must be seen as the exception and not the rule. The conference focused on the reception of European Law in the fields of contract and tort law, family law, labour law, international private law and law of procedure. Each field was presented by a French and a foreign speaker. The Colloque was accompanied by a “Session internationale d’études doctorales” where young researchers from many EU-Member States formed six working groups on the aforementioned topics. The intention of the Session was twofold: each group followed a work program to analyse selected problems in a comparative perspective. The second and even more important aim was to enhance the exchange between the different legal cultures in Europe.
European Review of Private Law