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At Home and Abroad: The European Union in a Changing Global Order

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2022

Jan Wouters
Jan Wouters*
Affiliation:
Full Professor of International Law and International Organizations, Jean Monnet Chair ad personam EU and Global Governance, and founding Director of the Institute for International Law and of the Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies, an interdisciplinary research centre with the status of both a Jean Monnet and KU Leuven Centre of Excellence, at KU Leuven. He is also President of KU Leuven's International Policy Council.
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Extract

The European Union (EU or Union) has the ambition to be an important actor in the global order. Pursuant to Article 21 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU), it is set to “work for a high degree of cooperation in all fields of international relations” and “promote an international system based on stronger multilateral cooperation and good global governance.” More specifically, as TEU Article 3(5) stipulates, “[i]n its relations with the wider world,” the EU is tasked to “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.”

Type
Global Engagement Series: At Home and Abroad: The European Union in a Changing Global Order
Information
Proceedings of the ASIL Annual Meeting , Volume 115 , 2021 , pp. 325 - 335
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The American Society of International Law.

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Footnotes

Before the 115th Annual Meeting, ASIL convened audience members from around the globe to listen to panelists, who discussed the European Union in a changing global order. The panel was convened by the moderator, Neha Jain of the University of Minnesota Law School, who introduced the panelists: Francesca Bignami of The George Washington University Law School; John Swords of the NATO Office of Legal Affairs; and Jan Wouters of KU Leuven.

References

1 Consolidated Version of the Treaty on European Union, Art. 21(2), OJ C325/5 (Feb. 7, 1992) [hereinafter TEU].

2 Id. Art. 21(2)(h).

3 Id. Art. 47.

4 Id. Art. 1.

5 See, for an overview, Thomas Ramopoulos & Jan Wouters, The Institutional Structure, in Oxford Principles of European Union Law (Robert Schütze & Takis Tridimas eds., 2018).

6 TEU, supra note 1, Art. 17(1).

7 Id. Art. 24(1).

8 Id.

9 Zselyke Casky, Dropping the Democratic Façade, in Nations in Transit 2020 (2020), available at https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/2020-04/05062020_FH_NIT2020_vfinal.pdf.

10 Andrew Roth, David Smith, Edward Helmore & Martin Pengelly, Trump Calls European Union a Foe – Ahead of Russia and China, Guardian (July 15 2018), at https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jul/15/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-helsinki-russia-indictments.

11 European Commission and High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Joint Communication to the European Parliament, the European Council and the Council: A New EU-US Agenda for Global Change, JOIN(2020) 22 final (2020).

12 European Council and the Council of the European Union, EU-US Summit Statement: Towards a Renewed Transatlantic Partnership (June 15 2021), at https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2021/06/15/eu-us-summit-statement-towards-a-renewed-transatlantic-partnership .

13 Council of the European Union Press Release, Ukraine: Declaration by the High Representative on Behalf of the European Union on the Illegal Annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol (Feb. 25, 2021), at https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2021/02/25/ukraine-declaration-by-the-high-representative-on-behalf-of-the-european-union-on-the-illegal-annexation-of-crimea-and-sevastopol.

14 Council of the European Union Press Release, Declaration by the High Representative on Behalf of the EU on the Escalating Tensions in the Azov Sea (Nov. 28, 2018), at https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2018/11/28/declaration-by-the-high-representative-on-behalf-of-the-eu-on-the-escalating-tensions-in-the-azov-sea.

15 European Union External Action Service, Shared Vision, Common Action: A Stronger Europe. A Global Strategy for the European Union's Foreign and Security Policy 13, 33 (2017).

16 Id.

17 European Commission and High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, EU-China: A Strategic Outlook. Joint Communication to the European Parliament, the European Council and the Council, JOIN(2019) 5 final, at 1 (Mar. 12, 2019).

18 European Commission and High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, The EU Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific. Joint Communication to the European Parliament and the Council, JOIN(2021) 24 final, at 4 (Sept. 16, 2021).

19 See, for instance, European Council and the Council of the European Union, The European Union-Canada Summit 2021 – Joint Statement (June 15, 2021), available at https://www.consilium.europa.eu/media/50757/20210614-joint-statement-final.pdf.

20 Consolidated Version of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Art. 3(1), OJ C202 (June 7, 2016) [hereinafter TFEU].

21 See, next to the citation from TEU, supra note 1, Art. 21(2)(h), Art. 21(1), pursuant to which the EU “shall promote multilateral solutions to common problems, in particular in the framework of the United Nations.”

22 See European Commission and High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Strengthening the EU's Contribution to Rules-Based Multilateralism. Joint Communication to the European Parliament and the Council, JOIN(2021) 3 final (Feb. 17, 2021).

23 European Commission, Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: Global Europe: Competing in the World. A Contribution to the EU's Growth and Jobs Strategy, COM(2006) 567 final (Oct. 4, 2006).

24 European Commission, Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: Trade Policy Review – An Open, Sustainable and Assertive Trade Policy, COM(2021) 66 final (Feb. 18, 2021).

25 See, for a closer analysis, Jan Wouters & Kolja Raube, Rebels With a Cause? Parliaments and EU Trade Policy After the Treaty of Lisbon, in The Democratization of EU International Relations Through EU Law (Juan Santos Vara & Soledad Rodriguez Sánchez-Tabernero eds., 2018).

26 See TEU, supra note 1, Arts. 3(3), 3(5), 21(2)(d), (f); see also the preamble of the TEU: “determined to promote economic and social progress for their peoples, taking into account the principle of sustainable development.” See Tom Delreux, The EU in International Environmental Negotiations, in Environmental Policy in the EU: Actors, Institutions and Processes (Andrew Jordan, Viviane Gravey & Camilla Adelle eds., 2021); Tom Delreux, The EU and Multilateralism in the Environmental Field: UNEP Reform and External Representation in Environmental Negotiations, in The EU and Effective Multilateralism: External and Internal Reform in the First Decade (Edith Drieskens & Louise Van Schaik, eds., 2014).

27 TFEU, supra note 20, Art. 11; see also Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Art. 37, OJ C326 (Oct. 26, 2012).

28 European Union, Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 Establishing the Framework for Achieving Climate Neutrality and Amending Regulations (EC) No 401/2009 and (EU) 2018/1999 (“European Climate Law”), OJ L243/1 (2021).

29 Leslie Hook, John Kerry Warns EU Against Carbon Border Tax, Fin. Times (Mar. 12, 2021), at https://www.ft.com/content/3d00d3c8-202d-4765-b0ae-e2b212bbca98.

30 See, with a number of suggestions, Axel Marx, Frank Ebert, Nicolas Hachez & Jan Wouters, Dispute Settlement in the Trade and Sustainable Development Chapters of EU Trade Agreements (2017), available at https://ghum.kuleuven.be/ggs/publications/books/final-report-9-february-def.pdf.

31 See, inter alia, http://www.eyskens.com/styled-4/page146/page146.html.

32 This was a finding by the Council itself in 2020. See European Union, Council Recommendation of 15 June 2020 Assessing the Progress Made by the Participating Member States to Fulfil Commitments Undertaken in the Framework of Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), OJ C204/1 (2020).

33 European Union, Regulation (EU) 2021/697 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2021 Establishing the European Defence Fund and Repealing Regulation (EU) 2018/1092. OJ L170/149 (2021).

34 TEU, supra note 1, Art. 49.

35 Id. Art. 21(3).

36 Jan Wouters & Evelien Wauters, The UN Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration: Some Reflections, in Human Rights with a Human Touch. Liber Amicorum Paul Lemmens (Koen Lemmens, Stephan Parmentier & Louise Reyntjens eds., 2019).

37 Cristina Churruca Muguruza & Felipe Gómez Isa, The EU Human Rights and Democratization Policy, in The European Union and Human Rights: Law and Policy (Jan Wouters, Manfred Nowak, Anna-Luise Chané & Nicolas Hachez eds., 2020).

38 European Commission, A New Pact on Migration and Asylum. Communication to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, COM(2020) 609 final (Sept. 23, 2020).

39 Lisa Ginsborg & Graham Finlay, Towards Ever Greater Coherence? Human Rights Policies in the Evolving EU, in The European Union And Human Rights: Law And Policy, supra note 37.

40 See European Union, Council Decision (CFSP) 2020/1999 of 7 December 2020 Concerning Restrictive Measures Against Serious Human Rights Violations and Abuses OJ L410I/13 (2020); Council Regulation 2020/1998 (Dec. 7, 2020).