Making Cross Border Enforcement More Effective for Creditors

The European Union has worked at making cross-border enforcement more effective for more than 50 years. The process initially focused on the circulation of foreign judgments rendered in civil and commercial matters within the European Communities and the European Free Trade Association. At the turn of the century, as the European Union received a broader competence in the field, the EU lawmaker extended the scope of this initial policy to other subject matters, in particular in family law, but also endorsed a new policy of establishing harmonized EU procedures for the purpose of facilitating cross-border recovery of certain categories of claims (uncontested claims and small claims).
The purpose of this contribution is to assess these policies and explore whether cross-border enforcement of monetary judgments could be made (even) more effective for creditors.