Harmonizing Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards in the EU

This article proposes a harmonized EU framework for the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards, designed to complement the 1958 New York Convention (NYC). Despite the Convention’s global success, divergent enforcement practices among EU Member States continue to undermine legal certainty, delay recognition, and weaken confidence in arbitration. Through doctrinal and comparative analysis – including post-Brexit developments in the United Kingdom and practice in Switzerland as an European Free Trade Association (EFTA) state – the article argues for EU-level convergence grounded in party autonomy, procedural efficiency, and fundamental rights. Relying on Article 81 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), it outlines a three-tiered proposal: a Geneva Regulation applicable within the EU (a draft can be found in the Annex), a revised Lugano Convention for associated EFTA states, and a pan-European Geneva II Convention under the Council of Europe. This model would restore legal coherence, reinforce the rule of law in arbitral enforcement, and address structural concerns highlighted by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).