PRACTICAL SOLIDARITY: A BOND CONNECTING CONSUMERS, FUNDAMENTAL VALUES AND DIRECTIVE
The paper analyses the connection between the fundamental rights, i.e., fundamental values from the Charter, and the general objectives set by Directive (EU) 2019/1023 of the European Parliament and the Council in relation to consumer bankruptcy, with solidarity being validated in a wider sense. Consumer bankruptcy as a part of the fundamental right guaranteed by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, or protected value, is analysed in relation to the general objectives of the Directive, with reference to the sociological meaning and definition of solidarity as a legal principle. These values are related to consumer protection in the range of social rights. The Directive stipulates that EU member states can also apply to natural persons the procedures that lead to the discharge of debt incurred by an insolvent entrepreneur. These objectives indirectly enable the protection of fundamental rights guaranteed by the Charter, and they also relate to consumer protection. If solidarity in its definition includes freewill, voluntarism, or social bond, with the adoption of the Directive, those components are absent because the obligation to achieve certain objectives is imposed on the member states. Regarding the Directive’s objectives, free will, voluntarism, or social bond as an assumption of solidarity is missing. Because of that, solidarity can be considered as imposed, forced, due to the objectives that the member states must achieve in the process of implementation
Keywords: consumer bankruptcy, law, solidarity, fundamental rights and values.
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