The Enforcement of Intra-EU Arbitral Awards: Some Additional Policy Considerations

This article analyses the enforcement of intra-EU investor-state awards from a policy-oriented perspective. The article considers that an exclusively doctrinal or formalistic approach to the question leads to a methodological blind spot, which ignores the broader context of these enforcement actions and the policy considerations that arise from them. To overcome that, the article focuses on the reactions of relevant states following the Court of Justice of the European Union’s (CJEU’s) judgments in Achmea and Komstroy. It explains how, rather than generate backlash, those judgments received widespread support from the EU-Member States, which then took further actions to implement them. Finally, the article considers how, even within the limits of the current enforcement regime, enforcing courts may take into account some policy considerations when determining whether to enforce intra-EU investor-state awards.