The European Union and the International Legal Order: Discord or Harmony? (original) (raw)
Related papers
Revisiting the International Legal Status of teh EU
In 1997 this author wrote an article in this journal on the international legal status of the EU. 1 Since then, not only the Amsterdam Treaty entered into force-modifying a number of provisions in the EU Treaty-but also some other developments took place, both in academic thinking and in the legal practice of the EU, which all together justify a fresh look at the topic. Arguments to define the international legal status of the EU can not only be drawn from the existence of external legal capacities of the Union, but also from the unity of the Union's legal system. Where the first article analyzed the international legal status of the EU mainly by pointing to existing international capacities of the Union, the present article takes the inherent status of the EU as an international legal entity as a starting point. The popularity of the 'pillar-structure' in emphasizing the differences between the three issue-areas of the Union, has prevented many observers from taking the single legal system underlying the EU as a basis of their analyses. To this very day one can observe the existence of largely isolated EC, CFSP and Police and Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters (PJCC) research communities, in which research is frequently 'content driven' rather than that the impetus is taken from legal institutional starting points. Existing literature generally stresses too much the differences between the 'pillars', while neglecting the overall context of the EU legal system. 2 In fact, looking at international law or international organizations in terms of legal systems is rather uncommon. Even Hart-who devoted most of his time to the definition of a legal system-did not find his concept of law to be
Revisiting the International Legal Status of the EU
European Foreign Affairs Review
In 1997 this author wrote an article in this journal on the international legal status of the EU. 1 Since then, not only the Amsterdam Treaty entered into force-modifying a number of provisions in the EU Treaty-but also some other developments took place, both in academic thinking and in the legal practice of the EU, which all together justify a fresh look at the topic. Arguments to define the international legal status of the EU can not only be drawn from the existence of external legal capacities of the Union, but also from the unity of the Union's legal system. Where the first article analyzed the international legal status of the EU mainly by pointing to existing international capacities of the Union, the present article takes the inherent status of the EU as an international legal entity as a starting point. The popularity of the 'pillar-structure' in emphasizing the differences between the three issue-areas of the Union, has prevented many observers from taking the single legal system underlying the EU as a basis of their analyses. To this very day one can observe the existence of largely isolated EC, CFSP and Police and Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters (PJCC) research communities, in which research is frequently 'content driven' rather than that the impetus is taken from legal institutional starting points. Existing literature generally stresses too much the differences between the 'pillars', while neglecting the overall context of the EU legal system. 2 In fact, looking at international law or international organizations in terms of legal systems is rather uncommon. Even Hart-who devoted most of his time to the definition of a legal system-did not find his concept of law to be
A Companion to European Union Law and International Law, 2016
How do EU law and international law interact? Is the relationship between EU law and international law different from the relationship between general international law and one of its specialised legal orders, for example the relationship between international law and the law of the sea? In other words, is the question of the relationship only one about the fragmentation of international law? Are the rules of interaction between the legal orders just 'technical' conflict rules in this context? Or are the rules of interaction between the international and the EU legal order which has been described as an autonomous legal order, akin to rules that govern the interaction between international law and national legal orders? Elements of both the international and the constitutional paradigms are reflected in most areas of EU law. But they are particularly prominent when analysing the relationship between international and EU law, a topic that has enjoyed increasing attention in recent years. In this paper, firstly, the more formal basis for the relationship is considered by looking at the international law framework of EU law before, secondly, looking at the relationship between the two legal orders and the realities of the relationship as expressed in the status of international law within the EU legal order.
Current Problems of the Interaction Between International Law and the European Union Law
Revista de la Universidad del Zulia
The objective of this article is to analyze the problems of the interaction between International Law and the Law of the European Union. In particular, attention is paid to the study of "traditionalist" and "autonomist" approaches to the relationship between International Law and EU Law, the place of EU Law in the international legal order and the international legal aspects of the interaction of EU law and the law of the EU Member States. In the investigation, dialectical, legal-comparative, historical and logical-formal methods were used. As a result of the analysis, it was concluded that the relationship between EU Law and International Law is difficult to fit into any of the traditional models. On the one hand, EU Law was formed as a component of International Law. On the other hand, although the EU legal order was created on the basis of international treaties, in the process of its development it acquired certain characteristics that are, to a certain exten...
The international legal status of the European Union
1997
The author would like to thank his colleagues at the Europa Instituut for their valuable comments on earlier drafts of this article. Research on this topic is possible thanks to a grant of the Foundation for Law and Public Administration (Reob). ' CFSP and CJHA are also respectively referred to as the 'second' and 'third' pillar of the European Union, next to the 'first' Community pillar.
Civil Procedure and EU law: a policy area uncovered
2008
relations. To answer this question, she analyses why and how the EU pursues five key foreign policy objectives: the encouragement of regional co-operation and integration; the promotion of human rights; the promotion of democracy and good governance; the prevention of violent conflicts; and the fight against international crime.
The European Union’s Legal Personality in International Law – Character, Structure, and Scope
Studia Europejskie – Studies in European Affairs, 2023
In this paper, the author considers the issues of one’s legal personality in international law in general, with emphasis on the international legal personality of the European Union. The focus of discussion is on the character and structure of the European Union’s international legal personality and its peculiarities as a unique, juridical person. Special attention was given to the notion of the EU as a sui generis subject of international law, along with its scope of activities and supranational elements. As pointed out in this paper, these issues are numerous. Firstly, the issue of the European Union’s status within the international legal order is analysed and, further on, the character and the elements of its legal personality and the scope of the EU’s legal capacity as a juridical person in international law is also looked at. By conducting this discussion, conclusions were reached regarding the determination of the EU’s international legal personality (primarily regarding its current character and structure), which undoubtedly exists within the framework of the international legal order, but as a specific and unique personality in many respects.