EU External Relations Law: Structure, Powers, and Global Role

Introduction

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 established 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 organization's expanded focus 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.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 in the conclusion.

The EU as an International Actor

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.³ This status means that the EU is an international actor that enjoys a legal existence comparable to its constituent member states or to other international organizations such as the United Nations.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 through which the EU could conduct 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."⁵ By 1989, the various bodies of the EC had 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 in managing the EU's external relations.⁶

As an organization, the EU has the second-largest economy in the world (after China), generating $19.2 trillion in 2016. 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.⁷ As a result, the EU has become an increasingly important international actor. 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."⁸ A natural consequence of this growing importance has been an increase in the complexity of EU external relations. Hosen cites several salient examples, including:

Over the past half century, the EU has also acquired powers to act in matters such as energy, environmental policy, and foreign and security policy development. These attributes have created an enormous political and economic union that makes it a unique and preeminent international actor. 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."¹⁰ Its status in the world has also led other scholars to regard the EU as a unique entity that defies conventional definition. 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."¹¹

Legal Framework and Treaty Architecture

Regardless of its specific definition, EU external relations law represents an issue of significant importance. 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."¹² According to Van Vooren and Wessel, EU external relations law encompasses both an external and 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."¹³

Given its complexity and scope, it is not surprising that the application of EU external relations law has generated a wide array of legal questions and issues, as reflected in the growing body of precedential case law in the EU courts.¹⁴ 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."¹⁵ The EU also maintains various European Neighbourhood 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 Service (EEAS), which provides diplomatic services through 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.¹⁶ The Lisbon Treaty in particular has been cited as fueling interest in EU external relations law. According to Cremona, "External relations is currently among the most dynamic areas of EU law, its institutional structures profoundly affected by the Lisbon Treaty."¹⁷

EU external relations law is governed by several general objectives — including Articles 3(5) and 21 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU), Article 205 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), and Article 2 of the TEU — 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."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:

In its relations with the wider world, the Union shall uphold and promote its values and interests and contribute to the protection of its citizens. It shall contribute to peace, security, the sustainable development of the Earth, solidarity and mutual respect among peoples, free and fair trade, eradication of poverty and the protection of human rights, in particular the rights of the child, as well as to the strict observance and the development of international law, including respect for the principles of the United Nations Charter.

Like corporations in the United States, the EU has a legal personality and status that provide the authority for the organization to conduct internal negotiations between member states as well as external relations with third countries. It is in this context that the EU has been classified as an international actor.³² The EU is not, however, founded on a single constitutive document; rather, it rests on a collection of treaties and agreements.

The EU's legal personality is set forth in Article 47 of the TEU, which states: "Article 47 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) explicitly recognizes the legal personality of the European Union, making it an independent entity in its own right." This legal personality means the organization can:

It is also important to note that although the EU enjoys a separate legal personality from its constituent member states, Article 1 of the Treaty on the European Union stipulates that the organization may only take actions in those cases where treaties assign that specific authority. Van Vooren and Wessel explain that, "While the EU has a fully fledged legal personality to act and contract in the world, it is legally permitted to act only where the Treaties give the EU powers to do so. It is thus a key defining feature of EU external relations that the Union shares external objectives with its Member States, but that it has limited legal capacity to pursue these objectives: the principle of conferral."³³

There is also the so-called "loyalty obligation" on the part of member states, set forth in Article 4(3) of the Treaty on the European Union, which obligates them to act in a coordinated fashion to achieve the EU's mutual objectives. In addition, the principle of institutional balance among seven institutions — the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council of Ministers, the European Commission, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), the European Central Bank, and the Court of Auditors — is established in Article 13(1) of the Treaty on the European Union, each institution having its own specific responsibilities in the EU's decision-making processes.³⁴

Conclusion

Although the 21st century has been labeled the "Century of Asia" with China leading the way, the research showed that the European Union has transformed from a group of just six European countries in its early days into an economic juggernaut with 28 member states covering much of the European continent today. The research also showed that as the organization's highest court, the European Court of Justice is responsible for resolving internal disputes between member states as well as external issues involving those states. The EU's unique status in the world means that it enjoys a separate legal personality from its member states and is authorized to engage in external relations, including negotiations and trade agreements — but it is only authorized to act in those cases where various treaties assign that authority. The growth in the EU's membership and economic clout have also translated into a wide array of initiatives and programs involving third nations and other international organizations. It is reasonable to conclude that the organization will easily survive Britain's Brexit and continue to expand its influence on the world stage.