The Law of External relations of EU
LECTURE NOTES – Foundations
INTRODUCTION
► Course materials:
o Reading list posted online before each lecture/theme.
o Book: J. Wouters, F. Hoffmeister, G. De Baere, T. Ramopoulos, The Law of EU
External Relations. Cases, Materials, and Commentary on the EU as an
International Legal Actor (3rd edn, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021).
► Evaluation: Written open book exam (on Friday, 23 June 2023) consisting of one or
more fictitious cases and an essay question.
The Foundations of EU External Action
► Introduction
► Pillar Structure
► Legal personality
► Conferral
► Explicit Attribution of External Competences
► Implied External Competences
► General Legal Bases
► Conferral in the CFSP
1
, The Law of External relations of EU
LECTURE NOTES – Foundations
THE PILLAR STRUCTURE
LEGAL PERSONALITY
Pre Lisbon:
Article 281 EC:
► ‘The Community shall have legal personality’
Article 24 EU pre Lisbon:
► When it is necessary to conclude an agreement with one or more States or
international organisations in implementation of this title, the Council may
authorise the Presidency, assisted by the Commission as appropriate, to open
2
, The Law of External relations of EU
LECTURE NOTES – Foundations
negotiations to that effect. Such agreements shall be concluded by the Council on a
recommendation from the Presidency.
► […]
► 5. No agreement shall be binding on a Member State whose representative in the
Council states that it has to comply with the requirements of its own constitutional
procedure; the other members of the Council may agree that the agreement shall
nevertheless apply provisionally.
► 6. Agreements concluded under the conditions set out by this Article shall be binding
on the institutions of the Union.
► Reparation for Injuries suffered in the Service of the United Nations [1949] ICJ Reports
174, 179: ‘Accordingly, the Court has come to the conclusion that the
Organization is an international person. That is not the same thing as saying that
it is a State, which it certainly is not, or that its legal personality and rights and duties
are the same as those of a State. Still less is it the same thing as saying that it is “a
super-State”, whatever that expression may mean.’
Post Lisbon:
Does this change anything? Doulf Art 47 EU grant Eu international legal personality?
Impact art 47 EU on division of competences Union and Member States? Does art 47 EU
make Union into a state or bring it close to being a super-state?
PRINCIPLE OF CONFERRAL
General
- The legality of the Use by a State of Nuclear Weapons in Armed Conflict [1996] ICJ
Reports 66, para 25: ‘The Court need hardly point out that international organizations
are subjects of international law which do not, unlike States, possess a general
3
LECTURE NOTES – Foundations
INTRODUCTION
► Course materials:
o Reading list posted online before each lecture/theme.
o Book: J. Wouters, F. Hoffmeister, G. De Baere, T. Ramopoulos, The Law of EU
External Relations. Cases, Materials, and Commentary on the EU as an
International Legal Actor (3rd edn, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021).
► Evaluation: Written open book exam (on Friday, 23 June 2023) consisting of one or
more fictitious cases and an essay question.
The Foundations of EU External Action
► Introduction
► Pillar Structure
► Legal personality
► Conferral
► Explicit Attribution of External Competences
► Implied External Competences
► General Legal Bases
► Conferral in the CFSP
1
, The Law of External relations of EU
LECTURE NOTES – Foundations
THE PILLAR STRUCTURE
LEGAL PERSONALITY
Pre Lisbon:
Article 281 EC:
► ‘The Community shall have legal personality’
Article 24 EU pre Lisbon:
► When it is necessary to conclude an agreement with one or more States or
international organisations in implementation of this title, the Council may
authorise the Presidency, assisted by the Commission as appropriate, to open
2
, The Law of External relations of EU
LECTURE NOTES – Foundations
negotiations to that effect. Such agreements shall be concluded by the Council on a
recommendation from the Presidency.
► […]
► 5. No agreement shall be binding on a Member State whose representative in the
Council states that it has to comply with the requirements of its own constitutional
procedure; the other members of the Council may agree that the agreement shall
nevertheless apply provisionally.
► 6. Agreements concluded under the conditions set out by this Article shall be binding
on the institutions of the Union.
► Reparation for Injuries suffered in the Service of the United Nations [1949] ICJ Reports
174, 179: ‘Accordingly, the Court has come to the conclusion that the
Organization is an international person. That is not the same thing as saying that
it is a State, which it certainly is not, or that its legal personality and rights and duties
are the same as those of a State. Still less is it the same thing as saying that it is “a
super-State”, whatever that expression may mean.’
Post Lisbon:
Does this change anything? Doulf Art 47 EU grant Eu international legal personality?
Impact art 47 EU on division of competences Union and Member States? Does art 47 EU
make Union into a state or bring it close to being a super-state?
PRINCIPLE OF CONFERRAL
General
- The legality of the Use by a State of Nuclear Weapons in Armed Conflict [1996] ICJ
Reports 66, para 25: ‘The Court need hardly point out that international organizations
are subjects of international law which do not, unlike States, possess a general
3
