This paper reviews the first five years of experience with Collective Action Clauses (CACs) for European sovereign debt, focusing on both the legal and the economic dimension. First, we present a chronology of the legislative acts to incorporate CACs in European sovereign debt contracts...

The introduction of the Euro ushered in a rise to dominance of English contract law in European debt securities. Corporate issuers in the Euro zone chose English law significantly more often than a control group of other European countries. The Euro effect on choice of law is particularly strong...

We analyze the price effect of the introduction of Collective Action Clauses (CACs) in newly issued sovereign bonds of Eurozone countries as of January 1, 2013. By allowing a majority of creditors to modify payment obligations, such clauses reduce the likelihood of holdouts while facilitating...

Recent legislative developments in the field of payment services in the European Union aim at building a uniform European payments market. The creation of an internal market for payments has been the result of both industry self-regulation and public regulation. The Payment Services Directive...

On January 1, 2013, it became mandatory that every new sovereign bond issued by a member of the European Monetary Union include a new contract clause called a Collective Action Clause or CAC. This, we believe, constituted the biggest one-time change to the terms of sovereign debt contracts in...

Emerging market sovereigns issue bonds in the international capital markets governed by a foreign legal regime such as the law of England or New York State. European sovereigns, however, have been able to issue bonds governed by the issuer's own law. In the event of a future financial crisis,...

Proposals for Eurozone reform aim to complete its institutional architecture by securing stability without creating moral hazard. Such policy arguments inevitably rely, however, on implicit assumptions about justice, or on what is owed to whom. A common assumption is that member states are...

Procurement law is rising in importance year after year. According to the European Commission, public procurement now accounts for over 14% of the EU's gross domestic product. Also at the ECB, spending through procurement is growing, and the evolution of its procurement law from non- binding...