Blame it on Brussels: EU Law and the Distributive Effects of Globalisation

Over recent years, or even decades, issues such as globalisation, technology, globalised wars, migration, or Brexit have accentuated two phenomena. The fi rst is the distributive effects of law and of globalisation, and the second is the inadequacies in the political processes and outcomes where governments get rightly or wrongly blamed. These two phenomena inspired the theme of the 16th annual Jean Monnet seminar on advanced issues of EU law (Inter University Centre, Dubrovnik, April 2018) titled ‘Blame It on Brussels: EU Law and the Distributive Effects of Globalisation’. This editorial note is based on the authors’ keynote dialogue at the opening of the seminar and seeks to discuss the mentioned two phenomena, and consider what law and governments, and in particular the EU, can do about them.