European Papers - A Journal on Law and Integration

A New Decade for European Papers (2025)*

This is the first issue of the 10th volume of European Papers: A Journal on Law and Integration. Established a decade ago, European Papers was founded with the aim of providing insights into the state of European integration. It is no coincidence that the journal’s name may remind readers of the Federalist Papers, which articulated the legal and philosophical foundations behind the establishment of the United States of America.

In the editorial of the journal’s inaugural issue, written by ‘E.C.’, the following statement was made:

‘This is certainly not the most propitious time to publish a journal ‘on Law and Integration’. [...] It is disintegration, not integration, that seems to be the dominant motive behind contemporary events in Europe; it is the panacea offered to soothe the fears raised by the multiple crises that hold the present state of Europe in a tight grip; it is the invisible thread binding together the anxieties underlying scholarly discussions about its future. It is not our task to determine the multifarious factors – social, political, or cultural – that have led to the current state of affairs. But the analysis of law as a possible disintegration factor clearly falls within our purview.’

This statement remains as relevant today as it was then. However, in recent weeks, we have witnessed a new wave of integration rather than disintegration. Additionally, the role of law as a potential integrating force has resurfaced on the agenda, driven less by internal crises and more by global shifts in events.

European Papers is truly a European project. It is not based in any single country or city but is transnational in its structure. Nonetheless, without the strong support of the dedicated teams at Sapienza University and UnitelmaSapienza University in Rome, the journal would not have achieved the status it holds today. Many younger (and a few more senior) colleagues have devoted weeks, months, and even years to reviewing and editing submissions, shaping European Papers into one of the leading journals on European law.

Celebrating ten years of existence is also a great opportunity to reflect on some impressive statistics. Between 19 April 2016 and 11 March 2025, our journal’s website attracted a total of 7.470.000 visitors. During this period, 70.850 PDFs were downloaded, and 406.270 articles were viewed. We currently have 179.294 active users worldwide, with at least 50 active users in 100 different countries. Over the years, we have published 27 issues, featuring 820 contributions from 680 authors.

The founding of European Papers was driven by a sense of idealism. We believed that the academic community itself should control what it publishes, from inception to dissemination. Furthermore, we held the conviction that scholarship on European integration should be freely accessible to all. Thus, instead of relying on a commercial publisher, we built the journal through the dedication and hard work of academics, ensuring that three solid issues are published online each year.

In a way, European Papers has become a victim of its own success. Its global reach, ease of access without the need for an account, and capacity to publish more content per issue than most journals quickly made it a highly attractive platform for diverse analyses of European integration. The journal has also become a preferred outlet for Special Sections – dedicated thematic parts of issues. In many cases, these Special Sections have comprised entire issues, and it is not uncommon for an issue to contain more than one.

Although journal issues continue to form the backbone of our publication structure, individual articles are published online as soon as their final edited versions are available. As we enter a new decade, we do so with a slightly revised team and an updated layout.

Regarding the editorial team, most of our founding members remain, but we have also welcomed new Editorial Board members. The most significant change is that our ‘founding father’, Professor Enzo Cannizzaro, has decided to shift his focus to other endeavours. Enzo’s dedication to the journal has been extraordinary. He has likely read most of what has been published in European Papers, spending countless hours reviewing and refining articles. Although he never wished to be seen as the Editor-in-Chief (‘European Papers is a collective effort’), his leadership has been essential in shaping and advancing the journal. Fortunately, Enzo will continue to be involved as an Honorary Editor.

As for the journal’s layout and author guidelines, we initially introduced a distinctive and visually appealing format, accompanied by detailed submission guidelines that set European Papers apart. Thanks to Nicola Napoletano’s boundless creativity and commitment, the journal has maintained its strong aesthetic and editorial standards. However, we have also taken note of feedback from authors suggesting that our formatting requirements were overly complex. Moving forward, articles will align more closely with the conventions of other legal journals, and our submission guidelines will reflect the standard practices familiar to scholars in the field. We remain open to further suggestions for improvement.

The Forum was a key feature of our first decade, designed to facilitate the rapid publication of shorter Highlights and Insights. However, with this issue, we bid farewell to the Forum. Several online platforms now provide even faster publication options for short, topical contributions. Additionally, our rigorous review process often resulted in delays that undermined the original purpose of the Forum. Moreover, the ambiguous status of Forum contributions – neither full articles nor informal pieces – created uncertainty for authors regarding their academic recognition. Going forward, all contributions will be categorised as Articles, though there will still be variations in length.

We extend our sincere gratitude to the early-career colleagues who have now left the editorial support team. We hope they take pride in having contributed to this project over the years.

Finally, this issue also marks the last Editorial. One reason is that nearly all past editorials were written by Enzo Cannizzaro, whose high standards would be difficult to match. Additionally, alternative platforms now exist for timely analyses of current events in European law. However, European Papers remains committed to providing in-depth assessments that collectively capture the state of European integration. The present moment offers no shortage of reasons to continue this important work.

* Editor-in-chief (Prof. Ramses A Wessel). This Editorial (in European Papers, Vol. 10, 2025, No 1, pp. III-V) is also written on behalf of the entire Executive Editorial Board, which also consists of Dr. Justin Lindeboom and Prof. Dr. Nicola Napoletano (Deputy Editors-in-chief). EP’s Managing Editor is Dr. Marco Fisicaro.

A foreword to European Papers (2016)

European Papers is conceived of as a cultural project: a tool for reflecting on European integration as a means to create a new political community.

European Papers intends thus to be part and parcel of the debate on the process of European legal integration, on its causes and its functioning, on its most remote interconnections with other social events. Its mission is to draw attention to the manifold forms of integrating Europe and to the far-reaching implications of this process. Moreover, such a reflection requires a wider dialogue between the legal experience and other forms of integration, economic, social and cultural.

To forge a law journal as an instrument for a cultural mission entails a number of inescapable steps. This conception implies passing over the traditional hurdles of language, nationality and traditions. European Papers could be an ideal opportunity to match this demand, through its multinational governing bodies, whose members share its ideal and cultural philosophy.

It further entails the capacity to reconcile antithetical needs. On the one hand, we intend to promote a scholarly debate on the theoretical foundations of the process of European integration in its manifold expressions. On the other hand, the tumultuous development of this process, which takes place on a daily basis, requires an on-going debate on events that incessantly unfold under one’s eyes.

To reconcile these apparently antithetical needs, we have thought of European Papers as composed of two parts: a four-monthly e-Journal – i.e. an electronic and open access journal, that emphasises our belief in the open and free character of scientific research – and a “militant” European Forum, designed to be a hotbed of intellectual discussion, a breeding place for ideas, and an indispensable tool for updating and keeping in touch with the latest developments.

Finally, the inescapable issue of language. The aspiration of European Papers to be an interlocutor for an open set of recipients entails a multilingual option. Par contre, uniformity reasons, and the need of reaching a wider, potentially universal, readership would plead for a sole common language. The compromising solution, for an uncompromising project, has been the adoption of a dual-track: English, French, Italian and Spanish for the European Forum; English for the four-monthly e-Journal.

***

European Papers is not inspired by preconceived ideas or ideologies. It has been conceived of as an area where every hypothesis about the process of integration in Europe can be freely verified and discussed. It intends to be a living laboratory for the analysis of a social phenomenon whose uniqueness vis-à-vis the contemporary legal and political categories has been widely recognised. Yet, European Papers has the ambition to go beyond this recognition and appreciate, day after day, its technical as well as its conceptual features, in the belief that this is the path through which the scientific knowledge can advance.

It is our hope that we will not be left alone in this impervious road.

Information

European Papers  - A Journal on Law and Integration (ISSN 2499-8249 - doi: 10.15166/2499-8249/0 - Registration: Tribunal of Rome (Italy), No 76 of 5 April 2016) is an open access, double-blind peer-reviewed and self-published Journal. European Papers is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

European Papers web site (www.europeanpapers.eu - ISSN 2499-7498 - Copyright © European Papers, 2016-2025) is an integral part of European Papers  - A Journal on Law and Integration and provides full on-line access to the contributions published in the four-monthly e-Journal and on the European Forum.

Publisher, Administration and Contact:
Prof. Enzo Cannizzaro (Honorary Editor - Former Editor-in-chief 2016-2024)
Department of Legal and Economic Studies - University of Rome “La Sapienza”
Piazzale Aldo Moro, 5 – I-00185 Rome (Italy)
e-mail: info@europeanpapers.eu.