The Gazette 1989

JANUARY 1989

GAZETTE

The Legal Implications of 1992 Address by Mr. Peter D. Sutherland to the Irish Centre for European Law. Mr. Sutherland is the former Irish Member of the Commission of the European Communities responsible for Competition Policy and Relations with the European Parliament.

competed for. 1992 leaves no room for complacency: its impact will be to provide a framework of perman- ent competitive renewal in previ- ously protected markets; the winners will be those who are ready to put in a good performance. Legal Implications In contrast to the economic analysis, relatively little has been said about the legal implications of 1992. Yet they are very far- reaching, affecting the corpus of laws, the Judiciary, the content and mix of judicial proceedings, and indeed the structure, organisation and efficiency of national legal systems. I therefore welcome very much the focus of today's Con- ference, but even more so the fact that it is the first public manifesta- tion of what I regard to be an absolutely essential part of prepara- tions for 1992 - the establishment of the Irish Centre for European Law. For law lies at the heart of the European Community. Legal Framework Firstly, unlike previous efforts to unite Europe, the Community has been created by law. Secondly, the Community is a source of law, both through the founding treaties and through the legal acts promulgated by the institutions set up by the treaties. Thirdly, the Community is of the child if proceedings are brought within one year and even after that period shall order the return unless it is demonstrated that the child is now "settled in its new environment". "Tug-of-Love" cases are difficult enough to administer when the parties are all within a single juris- diction, they become immeasurably more difficult and expensive where the child is removed from one jurisdiction to another. Anything that can be done to smooth away the difficulties of these unfortunate cases should surely be a matter of priority for our legislators. • 5

Over the past few weeks, both here in Ireland and throughout Europe, there has occurred an explosion of analysis and exhortation arising out of the completion of the Single Market by 1992. I have been an active participant in the developing public and political debate in Europe on this issue ever since the decision was taken by the present Commission at a weekend of re- flection in Royaumont in November 1984 (two months before it formally took office) to identify the completion of the Single Market by 1992 as the over-riding objective for the Community. Emile Noel, who served as Secretary General of the Commission from 1958 to 1987, has recently said of that meeting in Royaumont: "A strong idea had been launched and you had the impression that it would be irresistible and that it would trans- form the whole European process in the years to come". It is a matter of regret that the kind of debate and analysis which we are now having in Ireland did not occur some 12 to 18 months ago when we debated the adoption °f the Single European Act. For what we are now experiencing, what we are now becoming con- scious of, is simply the unfolding of the approach and the commitment entered into by the Single Act. It is a matter of regret because our level of preparedness would by now be so much higher. s >ngle Market inevitable 1 believe I can also detect a qualitative change in the way in which the Single Market is now being discussed. Firstly there is n ow widespread acceptance of its inevitability: the phrase used by the Heads of State and Government at Hannover was "irreversibility". 1992 is no longer an aspiration, a Proposal, a project; it is a reality w hich is now built into the plans, Preparations and actions of govern- ments and of businesses through- nut the Community. Some of the m ° st difficult decisions which will

enable us to complete the Single Market have already been taken. In February the Community's finan- cial system was put on a sound basis, the reform of the guidance section of the CAP was completed and the Structural Funds were doubled in an overall package which will not need revision until 1993. Last month there was a series of seminal decisions on the liberalisation of capital movements, the mutual recognition of diplomas and the liberalisation of the road transport market followed by the decision at Hannover to undertake work aimed at preparing for monetary union. While serious re- negotiating difficulties lie ahead - notably in relation to the harmonisation of taxes - there is also a much greater readiness in all Member States than in the past to make sure that such difficulties do not become insurmountable. This change in attitude is partly ex- plained by the much clearer picture which is now available of the con- siderable economic benefits which the Single Market will entail - GDP to increase by up to 7%, prices to fall by 6% and up to five million net new jobs to be created. Finally, and most welcome of all, there is the realisation that these benefits will not flow automatically to any par- ticular region, sector or group of persons but will have to be V I E W P O I N T Contd. from page 3 This is certainly not the case with regard to the Hague Conven- tion on Child Abduction because it has been ratified by a significant number of countries whose ratification would have a significant relevance for Ireland, such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and Australia as well as France, Spain and Portugal. What the Convention does is to provide a system whereby the judicial or administrative authorities of the State where the child, which has been wrongfully removed from the custody of those persons entitled to it, are obliged to order the return