Theoretical Reflections on the Public-Private Distinction and their Traces in European Union Law
Keywords:
European Union law, evolution of European Union law, public-private distinction, role of private parties in European Union law, Derecho de la Unión Europea, evolución del derecho de la Unión Europea, distinción público-privado, sector privadoAbstract
From its inception, EU law has been organised with (economic) integration as its guiding paradigm. A public-private distinction as it is known in many civil law countries has never been a characterising feature of EU law. In the absence of such a divide in EU law, the public and the private sphere interact differently. First, the attempt to strike a balance between the state and the market reflects the struggle for a delineation between public and private power. Second, the evolution of the personal scope of EU internal market law and fundamental rights increasingly involves private parties at both sides. Third, the emergence of European contract law has led to conceptual clashes between the international trade law paradigm and the public-private distinction in the tradition of civil law countries. It will be argued that EU law scholarship and legal practice will have to re-conceptualise the role of the individual and private parties as subjects of the law, bearers of rights and addressees of obligations in order to flesh out what is known as the private law element in many national legal cultures.
Desde su creación, la legislación de la Unión Europea (UE) se ha organizado en base al paradigma orientador de la integración (económica). La legislación comunitaria nunca se ha caracterizado por una distinción público-privada como la existente en el derecho civil de numerosos países. Ante la ausencia de esta división en la legislación de la UE, la esfera pública y la privada interactúan de forma indiferente. En primer lugar, el intento de lograr un equilibrio entre el Estado y el mercado refleja la lucha por una delimitación entre el poder público y el privado. En segundo lugar, la evolución del alcance privado de la legislación sobre el mercado interno europeo y los derechos fundamentales hace que se impliquen cada vez más poderes privados en ambas partes. En tercer lugar, el surgimiento del derecho contractual europeo ha dado lugar a conflictos conceptuales entre el paradigma de derecho mercantil internacional y la distinción público-privada en la tradición del derecho civil de los países. Se argumentará que la comunidad científica de la UE en materia legislativa y la práctica jurídica tendrán que replantearse el papel de los entes individuales y privados como sujetos de derecho, portadores de derechos y obligaciones, con el fin de profundizar en lo que se conoce como el elemento del derecho privado en muchas culturas jurídicas nacionales.
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