GOVAERE Inge - External Relations Law of the EU Autonomous Legal Order (30h)

This course gives an overview of the key legal aspects of the external relations of the EU, including sessions on competence, prior agreements concluded by the Member States, EU and mixed agreements, jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union, the EU and the Member States in other international organisations. The ‘constitutional’ aspects, rather than the content of international agreements and policies, are emphasized in order to give the students all the necessary tools enabling them to understand the content of agreements and policies in their future professional activities.

On completion of the course, students will be expected to have:

a) detailed knowledge of the course contents as described below;

b) a good understanding of the interaction between the EU legal order and the public international law;

c) thorough knowledge of the complexity of EU competence in external relations;

d) the methodological tools to understand the content of agreements and EU external policies;

e) the ability to read and comment critically the judgments and the opinions of the CJEU. 

The course focuses on the following topics:

The EU on the international scene; External competence of the EU - Scope and nature of the competence; Contracting international obligations by the EU - including the role and function of Article 218 TFEU and the EU competence in international organizations; The Court of Justice of the European Union and (mixed) agreements concluded by the EU - including direct applicability of international agreements and the competence of the CJEU to interpret them; Agreements concluded by the Member States; customary international law in the EU legal order, the legal issues related to safeguarding the autonomy of the EU legal order, prior agreements and the theory of succession and the Interface between EU external relations law and the CFSP law -including dual use goods, security exceptions and economic sanctions.

For more information, please see the ECTS card