Title of research: Competition of Civil Justice Systems in the European Union.

Promotor: Prof. X.E. Kramer

If two companies from Germany and Spain enter into a contract, they can choose which court will be competent for claims arising from it. While making this choice, these parties will take into account different elements and will opt for the best solution. Countries are concerned by this, so they change their legislation to be more attractive to litigations or/and to keep litigations within their jurisdictions. In other words, they compete with each other by means of their civil justice systems.

My research will answer this question: How do civil justice systems compete in the European Union area? In addition, it will answer these two sub-questions that stream from the main question: Under what conditions and with what consequences does this kind of competition happen? How do private parties and governments influence it, and how are they influenced by it?

This research will fill the gap in the literature with an analysis of the competition of civil justice systems. It will start with the motives of the parties to choose a particular jurisdiction, and continue with the policies enacted by governments. Light will be shed on the mechanisms of competition of civil justice systems, and on the role and responses of parties and governments.

This work will be important for lawyers. They can use it to understand how parties - their counter parties - behave, and what their behavioural tendencies are in different places in Europe. It can show to EU Member States how a competition involving civil justice systems works, what the different elements of it are, how it is influenced by different elements, and the specific weight that each element has. In view of the ongoing harmonisation process in the EU, this research can show whether a harmonisation, a non-binding instrument, or more incentives to competition involving jurisdiction are better for the EU.

Erlis graduated from the Faculty of Law at Tirana University in 2006. He worked as an associate lawyer for the Kalo and Associates Law Firm in Tirana from June 2005 to December 2007. From January 2008 until August 2011, he worked as Chief of the Projects Sector at the High Council of Justice in Albania. Erlis obtained an LL.M. master's degree from the University of Groningen in 2012. In November 2012, he started his PhD research on the competition of civil justice system at Erasmus University Rotterdam.