How the European Union Manages It External Relations Research Paper

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European Union External Relations Law

The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union among 28 European nations that spans most of the continent. Created following the end of World War II, the EU was initially focused on promoting free trade between member states in order to improve their standards of living and reduce the likelihood of future conflicts. As a result, the European Economic Community (EEC) was created pursuant to the 1957 Rome Treaty in 1958 to facilitate trade between the organization’s founding members (Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands). The EEC’s name was changed in 1993 to the European Union to reflect the expanded focus of the organization beyond trade to include legal, environmental and human rights issues. Despite the recent withdrawal of Great Britain from the EU, the organization remains stable and enjoys an enormous market for its goods and services.[footnoteRef:2] This paper reviews the relevant literature to describe the EU’s external relations law as well as recent and current trends followed by a summary of the research and important findings concerning these issues in the conclusion. [2: “The EU in Brief” (2017). The European Union. [online] available https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/eu-in-brief_en, p. 1.]

Review and Analysis

The EU is unique in the world in terms of its political structure and EU external relations law is based on the principle that the organization can enter into legal relationships with other international organizations and third states.[footnoteRef:3] This status means that the EU is an international actor that enjoys a legal existence comparable to its constituent member states or other international organizations such as the United Nations.[footnoteRef:4] The creation of the EEC in 1958 provided the EU with this level of authority by virtue of the organization’s Common Commercial Policy as well as the ability to engage in international agreements by which the EU could engage in relations with third countries. In this regard, Van Vooren and Wessel note that, “When the 1957 Rome Treaty founded the EEC, this new international organization was explicitly given competence to conduct international trade relations through its Common Commercial Policy (CCP), and to conclude international agreements through which it could associate itself with third countries.” [footnoteRef:5] By 1989, the various bodies of the EC achieved autonomy and permanence with the European Commission, the European Court of Justice and the European Parliament becoming viable actors in their own right. These bodies have played an increasingly significant role in facilitating negotiations between member states as well as the external relations of the EU.[footnoteRef:6] [3: Bart Van Vooren and Ramses A. Wessel (2014). EU External Relations Law: Text, Cases and Materials. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 2.] [4: Van Vooren and Wessel, p. 2.] [5: Van Vooren and Wessel, p. 2.] [6: Csilla Varga (2016, January 1). “European Union and the Conflicts of the International System: European Diplomacy in a Globalized World.” IUP Journal of International Relations, vol. 10, no. 1, p. 7.]

As an organization, the EU has the second-largest economy in the world (after China), generating $19.2 trillion in 2016. Indeed, the combined economies of the EU and China account for a full one-third of the entire global economy and current indicators suggest the EU’s economy will continue to grow for the foreseeable future.[footnoteRef:7] As a result, the EU has become an increasingly important international actor. For example, Hosen advises that, “The European Union's presence in the world is continuously evolving and expanding. Today, there is virtually no area of international law making where the Union cannot participate - either as an independent international actor or in cooperation with its member states.”[footnoteRef:8] A natural concomitant of this growing importance has been an increase in the complexity of EU’s external relations. In this regard, Hosen cites several salient examples, including the following: [7: Kimberly Amadeo (2017, July 18). “The world’s largest economies.” The Balance. [online] available: https://www.thebalance.com/world-s-largest-economy-3306044, p. 2.] [8: Nadirsyah Hosen (2017). “EU external relations: Law and policy.” Monash University. [online] available: https://www.monash.edu/pubs/2017handbooks/units/LAW4683.html, p. 3.]

· The refugee crisis and the accession negotiations with Turkey;

· The Dutch veto to the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement;

· The negotiation, signature and ratification of Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between the EU and Canada;

· Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership trade agreements;

· The incompatibility of intra-EU bilateral investment treaties with EU law; and,

· The relations of the EU with the UK post-Brexit or the rejection of the EU's accession treaty to the European Court of Human Rights by the European Court of Justice.[footnoteRef:9] [9: Hosen, p. 4.]

Over the past half century, the EU’s has also acquired other powers to act in matters such as energy, environmental and foreign security policy development.

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These attributes have created an enormous political and economic union that makes it a unique and preeminent international actor. In this regard, Van Vooren and Wessel report that, “In political science literature there are a variety of definitions for the nature of the EU in the world, which commonly seek to categorize the ‘kind’ of power the Union exerts in its external relations: civilian power, soft power, normative power and so on.”[footnoteRef:10] Its status in the world has also caused others to regard the EU as a unique entity that defies definition using conventional terms. As Van Vooren and Wessel add, “Other scholars do not seek to classify the EU normatively, and are content with the classification of the EU as quite simply an entity which stands in a category of its own, e.g. a sui generis international actor which cannot be defined with any pre-existing terminology.”[footnoteRef:11] [10: Van Vooren and Wessel, p. 2.] [11: Van Vooren and Wessel, p. 2.]

Regardless of its specific definition, the law of the external relations in the EU represents an issue of significant importance. For example, Eeckhout notes that, “The EU institutions have developed an extensive practice in this area, by concluding many international agreements, by participating in the work of international organizations, and by legislating and regulating on matters of external relations.”[footnoteRef:12] According to Van Vooren and Wessel, though, EU external relations law includes an external as well as an internal dimension: “In its internal dimension it consists of the set of rules which govern the constitutional and institutional legal organization of this legal entity in pursuit of its interests in the world. The external dimension comprises the rules governing the relationship of the EU with the international legal order in which it is active.”[footnoteRef:13] [12: Piet Eeckhout (2011). EU External Relations Law. Oxford: Oxford European Union Law Library. ] [13: Van Vooren and Wessel, p. 1. ]

Given its complexity and enormity, it is not surprising that the application of EU external relations laws has resulted in a wide array of legal questions and issues as shown by the growing body of precedential case law involving external relations in the EU courts.[footnoteRef:14] For example, according to the EU, “The work of the European Union in the area of external relations includes the negotiation of trade agreements, and cooperation on energy, health, climate and environmental issues, often in the context of international organizations such as the United Nations.”[footnoteRef:15] In addition, the EU also maintains various European Neighborhood Policy programs with other countries. Pursuant to the 2009 Lisbon Treaty, the EU’s external relations work was reorganized to include the European External Action Services (EEAS) which provides diplomatic services for the EU with 139 delegations around the world as well as the creation of the office of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.[footnoteRef:16] The 2009 Lisbon Treat in particular has been cited as fueling interest in EU external relations law. For instance, according to Cremona, “External relations is currently among the most dynamic areas of EU law, its institutional structures profoundly affected by the Lisbon Treaty.”[footnoteRef:17] [14: Eeckhout, p. 2. ] [15: “External Relations” (2017). EUR-Lex. [online] available: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/summary/chapter/external_relations.html?root_default=SUM_1_CODED%3D28.] [16: “External Relations” (2017). EUR-Lex. [online] available: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/summary/chapter/external_relations.html?root_default=SUM_1_CODED%3D28.] [17: Marise Cremona (2008). Developments in EU External Relations Law. European University Institute. [online] available: http://www.eui.eu/DepartmentsAndCentres/Law/Publications/Books/Cremona/EUExternal RelationsLaw.aspx, p. 1.]

European Union external relations law is by several general objectives (i.e., Articles 3[5] and 21 Treaty on European Union [TEU], Article 205 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union [TFEU] and Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union) as well as a general “set of principles, found in the Treaties and developed by the Court of Justice, which structure the system, functioning and exercise of EU external competences.”[footnoteRef:18] For example, Article 205 of the TFEU states: “The Union's action on the international scene, pursuant to this Part, shall be guided by the principles, pursue the objectives and be conducted in accordance with the general provisions laid down in Chapter 1 of Title V of the Treaty on European Union.” Likewise, Article 3(6) of the TEU states as follows: [18: Cremona, p. 3.]



5. In its relations with the wider world, the Union shall uphold….....

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