The importance of services in the EU economy has increased exponentially in the last decades as have the number and scope of EU rules, both those liberalising the provision of services and those protecting their recipients or consumers - the passengers, patients, viewers and bank depositors.
However, these consumers, in their capacity as citizens, are increasingly disillusioned with the EU and its institutions.This book, written by practitioners, academics and advocates before the European Court, reflects on these developments, examining rules in numerous service sectors, from the capping of roaming call charges upheld in the Vodafone decision, through health care, to the requirement for air carriers to care for and compensate passengers approved in the generous Sturgeon judgment.
The Court's positive approach may have been guided by a desire to consolidate the notion of EU Citizenship, a status introduced at Maastricht, but without clear content. The book therefore considers whether these uniform, EU-wide, consumer rights may not form an important component of such European Citizenship. The Commission's proposal to make 2013 European Year of Citizens seems to favour such a view.
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