Writing a foreword for an academic book is not only a responsibility but also a task which can lead to frustration, especially when the piece is excellent, as is the case here. To honour the job, one needs to read the book thoroughly, to peruse through its pages and reflect on the contributions made by the authors. Inevitably, a myriad of ideas arises, and a will – almost a need – to share one’s stream of connections, intuitions, and references with the authors and the readers of this book, emerges. And yet, this is not possible. The foreword must be brief, but brevity does not do justice to good books, and leaves the author of these introductory lines with the sour feeling that all forewords, for all books, are ultimately the same. This should not be true; this book deserves better, because the book is timely, thorough, original, and has a purpose. Allow me a few paragraphs to explain why.

A topic as difficult as this one required very gifted authors. It seems difficult to think of a better pair than the one formed by professors Bork and Veder, who have risen to the challenge in an outstanding manner. But this book also required an excellent network of national experts, and here too the list of contributors is as good as it gets. The book looks like a list of who’s who of European insolvency academia.

This is a very European book. It is European because it seeks to inform the process of harmonisation of European law; it is European because of its authors and the jurisdictions analysed; it is European, profoundly European, in its methodology; and it is also European in the proposal. Precisely because it is European in all these ways, the topic is particularly relevant and well chosen. If there is an area of the law where harmonisation at a European level makes sense it is the area of avoidance actions, mostly for three reasons: because it is a highly complex topic where technical guidance is needed; because most countries are bound to have similar factual situations and problems to solve; and, above all, because it is a subject matter which affects legal certainty and the tenure of transactions, and therefore is a matter which has the potential to damage pan-European cross-border investment.