The Impact of Primary Law of the European Union on the Bilateral Conflict of Laws Rules of the Member States

The Doctoral Dissertation analyses the impact of primary EU law on the bilateral conflict of laws rules of the EU Member States. The first part of the Dissertation evaluates the impact of primary EU law on the structure and on the functioning of bilateral conflict of laws rules of the Member States, highlighting the problems related both to the choice and to the correct application of traditional connecting factors in situations falling within the scope of primary EU law. The second part of the Dissertation addresses the influence of primary EU law on the multilateral method of private international law. The author concludes that primary EU law has penetrated the domestic private international law to a very high degree: primary EU law has significantly affected the application of domestic bilateral conflict of laws rules and, consequently, the multilateral method of private international law itself. Due to the integration imperative of the primary EU law, the multilateral method became asymmetrical and lost its internal logic thereby becoming unable to reach its main objective. Hence, the law applicable to international situations, falling within the scope of EU primary law, can no longer be determined on the basis of the multilateral method, which has presided over the conflict of laws in the legal orders of the EU Member States up until today. The main conclusions of the Doctoral Dissertation are based on an extensive analysis of the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, legal acts of the Member States and the legal doctrine