One final question on the holiday checklist could be what to read during the holidays. If you are looking for some recent literature in the field of European consumer and contract law you may be interested in a new working paper by Daniela Caruso on the EU's social justice agenda ('Qu'ils mangent des contrats: Rethinking justice in EU contract law'). The abstract reads as follows:
'The concern for justice in the context of EU contract law was central to a scholarly initiative that led, in 2004, to the publication of a Social Justice Manifesto. The Manifesto had the explicit goal of steering the Commission’s harmonization agenda away from purely neoliberal goals and towards a socially conscious law of private exchange. Contract law would be designed at the EU level so as to become (or remain, depending on the baseline of each member state) palatable to weaker parties. Today, in the many parts of Europe devastated by rising poverty, dire unemployment rates, and collapsing social safety nets, the Manifesto needs to be revised. When the very access to the market place is foreclosed by indigence and marginalization, the promise of contracts that would be sweet toward the vulnerable has the flavour of Marie Antoinette’s brioche. This essay revisits the situational premises of the Manifesto, acknowledges its accomplishments, identifies its limits, and outlines possibilities for its renewal, both within its original framework and beyond.'
And if you like to keep up with what inspires members of the European Parliament, their book choices can be found here (from this list, I would especially recommend Verhofstadt's suggestion).
