Old Problems and New Legal Instruments in Commercial Matters: An Inquiry on the Methodological Regime of Protection of “Disadvantaged Parties” in EU Private and Procedural International Law

EU conflict of laws rules and uniform provisions on international civil procedure are methodologically consistent only on the surface, at the level of principles. The aims of the present work are to dwell on the reconstruction of the principles grounding the necessary blueprint to be followed in the enactment of the rules, so as to ensure consistency and systematicity; explore, contextualize and challenge the ratio of such grounding principles; enquire with a juxtaposition of schemes the methodologies followed by the EU lawgiver in the protection of disadvantaged parties in commercial matters to identify both vertical and horizontal (in)consistencies, so as to contribute to depicting the possible various approaches for a reform that could theoretically be followed at the EU level, with proper identification of the main possible advantages and downsides related to the relevant options.