Abstract
In her foreword to the 2013 EEAS Review, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (High Representative or HR) Baroness Ashton likened the early days of the European External Action Service (EEAS) and its setting-up phase to ‘trying to fly a plane while still bolting the wings on’ (EEAS, 2013, p. 1). This chapter explores the legal nuts and bolts of the construction of the EEAS. An astonishing amount of law is involved. While foreign policy and law have forever been strange bedfellows (De Baere, 2012, pp. 359–360; Wessel, 2015), European integration is essentially a legalisation project (Cappelletti, Seccombe and Weiler, 1986), for the EU is a system constructed on the basis of law. It has created its own distinctive legal system, and legal niceties and practical legal implications dominate its everyday functions (Allott, 1999, p. 37, 46; De Baere, 2012, p. 364). Law also played a determining role in the fraught negotiation process setting up the EEAS (Erkelens and Blockmans, 2012; Van Vooren, 2011), and it continues to have a crucial impact on its daily functioning. At the same time, the EEAS is a groundbreaking legal construction, and as such it has had an impact on EU constitutional law, 1 which it has influenced and even transformed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Allott, P. (1999), ‘The Concept of European Union’ in A. Dashwood and A. Ward (eds) (Oxford and Portland, OR: Hart Publishing, 2000), 2 The Cambridge Yearbook of European Legal Studies 1999, 37 and 46.
Bátora, J. (2013), ‘“The Mitrailleuse Effect”: The EEAS as an Interstitial Organization and the Dynamics of Innovation in Diplomacy’, Journal of Common Market Studies, 51 (4), 598–613.
Blockmans, S. and Hillion, C. (2013) (eds), EEAS 2.0: A Legal Commentary on Council Decision 2010/427/EU Establishing the Organisation and Functioning of the European External Action Service (Brussels: CLEER Working Papers 2013/1).
Cappelletti, M., Seccombe, M., and Weiler, J.H.H. (1986) (eds), Integration Through Law. Europe and the American Federal Experience ( Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1986 ).
Council of the European Union (2011), ‘EU Statements in Multilateral Organisations: General Arrangements’. 15901 /11. 24 October 2011.
De Baere, G. (2012), ‘European Integration and the Rule of Law in Foreign Policy’ in J. Dickson and P. Eleftheriadis (eds), Philosophical Foundations of European Union Law ( Oxford: Oxford University Press ), 354–383.
De Baere, G. (2014), ‘EU External Action’ in C. Barnard and S. Peers (eds), European Union Law ( Oxford: Oxford University Press ), 704–750.
De Baere, G. (2015), ‘EU Status in Other International Organizations’ in T. Tridimas and R. Schütze (eds), The Oxford Principles of European Union Law -– Volume 1: The European Union Legal Order ( Oxford: Oxford University Press ).
De Baere, G. and Koutrakos, P. (2012), ‘The Interactions between the Legislature and the Judiciary in EU External Relations’ in P. Syrpis (ed.), The Judiciary, the Legislature and the EU Internal Market ( Cambridge: Cambridge University Press ), 243–273.
Blockmans, S. and Montesano, F.S. (2015), ‘Mogherini’s First 100 Days: Not the Quiet Diplomat’, CEPS Commentary, 12 February 2015.
Eckes, C. and Wessel, R.A. (2015), ‘The European Union from an International Perspective: Sovereignty, Statehood, and Special Treatment’ in T. Tridimas and R. Schütze (eds), The Oxford Principles of European Union Law -– Volume 1: The European Union Legal Order ( Oxford: Oxford University Press ).
Eeckhout, P. (2011), EU External Relations Law ( Oxford: Oxford University Press).
Erkelens, L. and Blockmans, S. (2012), ‘Setting up the European External Action Service: An Act of Institutional Balance’, European Constitutional Law Review, 8, 246–279.
European Commission Secretariat-General (2012), Working Arrangements between Commission Services and the European External Action Service (EEAS) in Relation to External Relations Issues, SEC 48, 13 January 2012.
European Convention WG III (2002), Final Report of Working Group III on Legal Personality, CONV305/02, Brussels.
European Convention WG VII (2002), Final Report of the Working Group VII on External Action, CONV 459/02, Brussels 16 December 2002.
European External Action Service (2013), EEAS Review.
Hillion, C. and Wessel, R.A. (2008), ‘Restraining External Competences of EU Member States under CFSP’ in M. Cremona and B. De Witte (eds), EU Foreign Relations Law: Constitutional Fundamentals ( Oxford: Hart Publishing ), 79–121.
Hillion, C. and Wessel, R.A. (2009), ‘Competence Distribution in EU External Relations after ECOWAS: Clarification or Continued Fuzziness?’ Common Market Law Review, 46, 551–586.
HM Government (2013), Review of the Balance of Competences between the United Kingdom and the European Union Foreign Policy.
House of Lords European Union Committee (2013), The EU’s External Action Service, 11th Report of Session 2012–13, HL Paper 147.
Lauterpacht, E. (1976), ‘The Development of the Law of International Organizations by the Decisions of International Tribunals’, Recueil des Cours, 152, 377–478.
Łazowski, A. and Wessel, R.A. (2015), ‘When Caveats Turn into Locks: Opinion 2/13 on Accession of the European Union to the ECHR’, German Law Journal, 16, 179–212.
Piris, Jean-Claude (2010), The Lisbon Treaty: A Legal and Political Analysis ( Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Van Vooren, B. (2011), ‘A Legal-Institutional Perspective on the European External Action Service’, Common Market Law Review, 48 (2), 475–502.
Wessel, R.A. (2000), ‘Revisiting the International Legal Status of the EU’, European Foreign Affairs Review, 5, 507–537.
Wessel, R.A. (2008), ‘The European Union as a Party to International Agreements: Shared Competences, Mixed Responsibilities’ in A. Dashwood and M. Maresceau (eds), Law and Practice of EU External Relations–Salient Features of a Changing Landscape ( Cambridge: Cambridge University Press ), 145–180.
Wessel, R.A. (2013), ‘Can the European Union Replace Its Member States in International Affairs? An International Law Perspective’ in I. Govaere, E. Lannon, P. Van Elsuwege, and S. Adam (eds), The European Union in the World: Essays in Honour of Marc Maresceau ( Leiden/Boston: Martinus Nijhoff ), 129–147.
Wessel, R.A. (2015), ‘The Legal Dimension of European Foreign Policy’ in Å.K. Aarstad, E. Drieskens, K.E. Jørgensen, K. Laatikainen and B. Tonra (eds), Handbook of European Foreign Policy ( London: Sage ).
Wessel, R.A. and Van Vooren, B. (2013), ‘The EEAS’s Diplomatic Dreams and the Reality of European and International Law’, Journal of European Public Policy, 20 (9), 1–18.
Wouters, J., De Baere, G., Van Vooren, B., Raube, K., Odermatt, J., Ramopoulos, T., Van den Sanden, T., and Tanghe, Y. (2013), The Organisation and Functioning of the European External Action Service: Achievements, Challenges and Opportunities ( Brussels: European Parliament, Directorate-General for External Policies of the Union, Directorate B, Policy Department ), 93 pp.
Wouters, J. and Duquet, S. (2012), ‘The EU and International Diplomatic Law: New Horizons?’ Hague Journal of Diplomacy, 7, 31–49.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2015 Geert De Baere and Ramses A. Wessel
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
De Baere, G., Wessel, R.A. (2015). EU Law and the EEAS: Of Complex Competences and Constitutional Consequences. In: Spence, D., Bátora, J. (eds) The European External Action Service. The European Union in International Affairs series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137383037_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137383037_10
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-57531-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-38303-7
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political Science CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)