‘From Rome to Rome’ – Cross-border employment contract. European Private International Law: Intertemporal law and foreign overriding mandatory laws

Abstract

To what extent are Greek saving laws, resulting in payment cuts in the public sector (that is employment conditions), capable of overriding the applicable (German) law? A dispute arising from an employment relationship between the Greek Republic and an employee habitually carrying out work in Germany, gave rise to preliminary questions having regard to the temporal scope of EU Regulation No. 593/2008 (the ‘Rome I Regulation’)¹ and, closely related thereto, the functional reach of Article 9(3) of that Regulation in respect of ‘foreign’ mandatory laws, in light of the principle of sincere cooperation enshrined in Article 4(3) TEU. An analysis of the Advocate General’s Opinion and the Court of Justice of the European Union’s (CJEU) ruling is followed by critical commentary and suggestions for future EU legislative amendments to the Rome I regime.