Abstract
Cross-border debt recovery is still too often synonymous with no payment for creditors. Traditionally, debt collection has been divided into preparation for enforcement and execution. The former is characterized by the safeguarding of rights, which means by carrying out of a protective measure or by the necessity of obtaining a cross-border debt acknowledgement which may make the forced execution reality. The effectiveness of European mechanisms is limited by the respect of fundamental procedural rights in the face of the usual distance barriers (deadline, language, access to information, multiplicity of procedural rules, etc.). Today, the historic exequatur procedure is partially replaced in the European Union by direct effect recovery mechanisms, particularly in civil and commercial matters. However, European forced execution remains a matter dealt with under the principle of territoriality. The implementation of a European measure remains a topical issue, while its concrete implementation would surely (partly) solve this problem.