Cross-Border Insolvency and Rescue Law Theory: Towards a Better Understanding of European Harmonisation

The monograph argues for the need to rethink cross-border insolvency and rescue law theory, in light of current EU regulatory developments in this policy area. It disputes the theoretical and normative value of the traditional framework in which cross-border insolvency and rescue law is construed especially in the current Eurosceptical political context. The book contends that cross-border insolvency and rescue law theory should no longer be centred around the outdated and sterile theoretical debate on universalism and territorialism. Rather, it suggests that the recent EU regulatory developments have produced a new framework in which cross-border insolvency and rescue law should be construed. This new paradigm-shifting framework revisits the concept of legal harmonisation in the context of the EU objective of integrating the European Single Market. The book introduces a new understanding of ?harmonisation? and presents the regulatory methods and instruments it encompasses. Ultimately, this monograph argues in favour of an abandonment of the strict understanding of harmonisation, as synonymous with uniformity. Instead, the new theory assigns a new, pragmatic and flexible meaning and scope to the concept of legal ?harmonisation?, which is understood as encompassing diverse regulatory methods, such as convergence, reflexive harmonisation and approximation, which all contribute to the achievement of the economic and political goals of the EU.