Forgotten Voices: Imagining the nature of EU law in the formative period of European legal integration (1950-1965)

Objective

VOICE will provide the first intellectual history of the formative period of European Union law (1950–1965). Combining legal and historical methods, this project examines the various legal imaginaries that existed in academic and professional circles before the European Court of Justice authoritatively defined the nature of the Treaty of Rome. By retrieving the ‘forgotten voices’ that offered alternative visions of the legal nature of European integration, VOICE provides a new understanding of EU law’s intellectual development. It also critically reflects on the use of history in contemporary EU legal discourse and retrieves pathways to reimagine the future of EU law. To achieve this, VOICE pursues three core objectives: (i) mapping the legal imaginaries circulating in European legal discourse between 1950 and 1965; (ii) reconstructing the intellectual and socio-political context in which these imaginaries were formed; and (iii) reconsidering contemporary scholarly and institutional narratives of EU law’s history in light of the plurality of legal imaginaries that once existed. Overall, this project highlights how the choices made by the Court of Justice in the formative period contained specific blind spots and institutional path dependencies that continue to shape EU law to this day. VOICE will reshape the understanding of EU law’s history among legal scholars and practitioners by recovering legal imaginaries of the formative period, challenging historically path-dependent narratives, and strengthening critical legal-historical inquiries into the evolution of EU law. Through its communication strategy, VOICE also aims to raise public awareness about the historical development of EU law, encouraging informed debate and critical reflection on its future among EU citizens. Finally, VOICE also offers relevant training and research opportunities that will enhance my academic profile and support my pursuit of a faculty position at a European research university.