University of Liverpool hosted the inaugural Common Market Law Review international conference

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This month, the University of Liverpool hosted the inaugural Common Market Law Review international conference.  CMLRev is the leading journal in EU law and ranks among the most prestigious and influential legal journals in the world.  When CMLRev decided to initiate a new annual conference, intended to tour around Europe, the Liverpool Law School had the honour of hosting the first event – another sign of our status as a major centre for academic research in the field of EU law.  The conference addressed the legal issues arising from the changing nature of the Eurozone within the context of the broader European Union – a subject of particular interest to the UK, especially as the Prime Minister prepares to renegotiate the UK’s membership of the EU with a view to the upcoming referendum on membership.  Speakers, chairs and participants came to Liverpool from across Europe for a lively debate in the glorious surroundings of Liverpool’s 18th century Town Hall.  Among the topics discussed were the place of the Eurozone bodies within the institutional framework of the EU, the challenges of legitimacy and accountability posed by Eurozone reform, the mutual influence between the Eurozone and the Single Market, the nature of “solidarity” between the Eurozone states and, ultimately, the question: which is more important – saving the Eurozone or preserving the European Union?  The conference was supported by the Research Development Fund of the School of Law and Social Justice, together with the European Research Centre for Economic and Financial Governance (a joint collaboration between the Universities of Leiden, Rotterdam and Delft).  

The event built on the Law School’s already strong policy engagement with the legal and political debate over the UK’s relationship with the EU; and helps pave the way for another conference – to be held in the University's London campus in January 2016 – addressing the UK’s membership renegotiations and their relevance to the subsequent referendum.  

For further information, please contact Professor Michael Dougan (m.dougan@liv.ac.uk) .