Is the EU Well-Equipped to Confront its International Responsibilities?

Abstract

The speech discusses the question of whether the EU, 10 years after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, is well equipped in the field of external action to confront the challenges of today. The biggest internal challenge was the unwillingness of the Member States actually to use the new external powers that were granted to the EU by Lisbon. The Court of Justice has been an important factor helping the Commission and the Parliament gradually to overcome this resistance of the Member States. However, the Court’s fondness of the notion of “autonomy” needs to be carefully calibrated. Among the external barriers the speech discusses (1) the unwillingness of third States to fully recognize the EU’s powers and to admit it to the relevant treaties and international organizations; (2) the problematic aspects of the new style international “deals”, such as the Iran deal, the Turkey deal etc.; (3) the inadequacy of the ILC’s rules on international rules on responsibility for the EU; (4) the lack of (will) power of the EU to save the WTO Appellate Body from its demise at the hands of the US. Especially this last example shows that the EU is incapable of fully making its economic and rule-making power work for itself, as long as its “hard power” under CFSP and CSDP has not yet become a palpable reality.