Multinational enterprises and national insolvency laws: Lobbying for special privileges

Abstract:

There is a friction between the global level playing field of multinationals and its fragmentation through national legislations. This is true for all areas of law but it is particularly significant for the insolvency laws of the national jurisdictions, since insolvency law is one of the twelve key elements which are listed by the Financial Stability Board as being quintessential for the financial stability of each national economy.

The article demonstrates how various multinationals very successfully overcome that friction by providing themselves privileges which contradict the fundamental principle of pari passu and shed irritating light on how lobbying is performed. It is particularly the national legislators’ acceptance of being lobbied that leaves a very bad aftertaste about how legislative work in modern times is performed, irrespective of all democratic décor. The article ends with a strong plea to the academic world to accept the responsibility for being the sole supervisory instance.