Abstract
This chapter sets the scene of the book. It starts by introducing the developing importance of fisheries for the European Union (EU) over the years and shows that the continuous consolidation of powers in this area made the EU an important powerful actor with respect to fisheries. The chapter continues with setting some cornerstones of the book such as (1) the adopted understanding of ‘normative power’ as being a powerful actor that acts in a principled way and (2) the main aim of the book, which is to examine how the frameworks of EU and international law impact the EU’s ability to act normatively in its external action in the area of fisheries. Considering the vastness of the literature on the EU’s external action, this chapter also shows the gap that is left with respect to fisheries. Subsequently, this chapter sets out the theoretical context of Ian Manners’ work on Normative Power Europe and sketches out how it is adapted methodologically to serve the purpose of a legal analysis. Finally, the overall structure of the book is presented.
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Notes
- 1.
Rayfuse 2004, p. 3.
- 2.
Ibid.
- 3.
Hollick 1977, p. 495.
- 4.
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, opened for signature 10 December 1982, 1833 UNTS 397, entered into force 16 November 1994.
- 5.
Ibid., Part V, specifically, Articles 55 and 56.
- 6.
Although the EU as a unitary all-encompassing name has been legally applicable since the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty in 2009, this book uses the EU (occasionally inaccurately) as a term referring also to the organisation before the Lisbon Treaty for ease of expression. The same approach is taken towards the changing names of EU judiciary.
- 7.
Churchill and Owen 2010, pp. 4–6.
- 8.
ECJ, Joined Cases 3, 4 and 6/76 Kramer, Judgment, 14 July 1976, EU:C:1976:114, para 30/33.
- 9.
Treves 1987, p. 520.
- 10.
Churchill 1987, pp. 557–558.
- 11.
EUMOFA 2021, p. 22.
- 12.
Ibid., p. 19.
- 13.
On the EU’s membership in RFMOs, see Popescu 2015, p. 9. See also https://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/cfp/international/rfmo_en. Accessed 2 August 2022.
- 14.
The United Nations Agreement for the Implementation of the Provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks, opened for signature 4 August 1995, 2167 UNTS 3, entered into force 11 December 2001.
- 15.
Agreement to Promote Compliance with International Conservation and Management Measures by Fishing Vessels on the High Seas, opened for signature 24 November 1993, 2221 UNTS 91, entered into force 24 April 2003.
- 16.
Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing, opened for signature 22 November 2009, FAO Doc C 2009/LIM/11 Rev.1, entered into force 5 June 2016.
- 17.
- 18.
FAO 1995.
- 19.
Vatsov 2019.
- 20.
European Commission (2015) EU speaks out at UN General Assembly in favour of better managed oceans and sustainable fishing. https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/mare/items/27749/en. Accessed 2 August 2022; Machado (2017) EU leads the way to sustainable fisheries. https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/mare/items/607902/EN. Accessed 2 August 2022; European Commission (2019) European Commission launches new tool to strengthen EU’s fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. https://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/mare/items/650689/en. Accessed 2 August 2022; Sinkevičius (2019) Press statement: AGRIFISH Council 16–17 December 2019 Brussels. https://ec.europa.eu/commission/commissioners/2019-2024/sinkevicius/announcements/press-statement-agrifish-council-16-17-december-2019-brussels_en. Accessed 2 August 2022.
- 21.
Wakefield 2016, p. 6; Cardinale et al. 2017; Said et al. 2018; Nicolás (2020) EU failed to end overfishing by 2020: lost opportunity? https://euobserver.com/environment/147099. Accessed 18 July 2020.
- 22.
- 23.
E.g. Hyde-Price 2006, p. 223 where he admits that “[s]tructural realism cannot explain all aspects of European affairs, and certainly not the nuances and intricacies of EU politics”.
- 24.
For a similar view, see Lerch and Schwellnus 2006, p. 318.
- 25.
One can just consider the recent 1000-pages edited volume discussing 92 leading EU external relations law cases. Butler and Wessel 2022.
- 26.
Orbie and Tortell 2009.
- 27.
- 28.
- 29.
The lengthiest albeit somewhat outdated discussion is in Churchill and Owen 2010, Ch. 5 and the second half of Ch. 7. For other discussions, see Churchill 1999a, b; Lequesne 2005; Bretherton and Vogler 2008; Markus 2009; Tsamenyi et al. 2009; Mfodwo et al. 2010; Tindall 2010; Belschner 2015; Wakefield 2016, Ch. 2, pp. 128–134, 161–164; Lado 2016, Ch. 7; 2020, Ch. 10; Aranda et al. 2019, pp. 77–110.
- 30.
- 31.
For a more nuanced discussion of the understanding of actorness, see Richard and Van Hamme 2013.
- 32.
Manners 2002.
- 33.
Ibid., pp. 236–239.
- 34.
Ibid., p. 239.
- 35.
Manners 2008.
- 36.
Manners 2002, p. 240.
- 37.
Ibid., p. 242.
- 38.
Manners 2008, p. 45.
- 39.
Ibid.
- 40.
E.g. Meunier and Nicolaïdis 2006, p. 172.
- 41.
Forsberg 2011, p. 1190.
- 42.
Ibid.
- 43.
Ibid.
- 44.
Aron 1986.
- 45.
- 46.
Ibid., 170.
- 47.
- 48.
Manners 2008, p. 47.
- 49.
Ibid.
- 50.
De Zutter 2010, p. 1107.
- 51.
Tocci 2008, p. 15.
- 52.
Forsberg 2011, p. 1191.
- 53.
Ibid.
- 54.
Janusch 2016, p. 505.
- 55.
- 56.
For a similar conclusion in other areas of EU action, see Cohen-Tanugi 2021.
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Vatsov, M. (2023). Introduction. In: Fishing Power Europe. Global Europe: Legal and Policy Issues of the EU’s External Action, vol 3. T.M.C. Asser Press, The Hague. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6265-583-6_1
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