Consistency as an Issue in EU External Activities. EIPA Working Paper 99/W/06

[From the Introduction]. The European Community (EC) was initially only competent in the area of trade and gradually developed a common commercial policy. The 1970s onwards saw increasing foreign policy co-operation in the framework of European Political Co-operation (EPC). Over the next two decades the increasing number of external activities of the Union highlighted the need for consistency between the EC’s external competencies conducted in the context of the first pillar and the intergovernmental ones of the second pillar and, to an growing extent, the third pillar. By the late 1990s the European Union (EU) accounted for a greater percentage of global gross national product than the U.S. and Japan. The EU also contributes more to the UN budget and peacekeeping operations than either the U.S. or Japan. Given the enormous importance of the EU as a global actor and its potential to play an even more influential role, it is not difficult to see why concerns of consistency in the EU’s external activities are legitimate. Consistency has become something of a refrain. Most recently the consolidated Treaty on European Union (CTEU) states that, 'The Union shall be served by a single institutional framework which shall ensure the consistency and the continuity of the activities carried out in order to attain its objectives while respecting and building upon the acquis communautaire.' [CTEU, 1997, Article 3] To this end, it is to the Union generally that the task of ensuring 'consistency in its external activities as a whole in the context of external relations, security, economic and development policies' falls. The Council and Commission are though charged with particular responsibility in this regard. The objective of achieving consistency in the Union’s external activities is to ensure that the Union can 'assert its identity on the international scheme.' [CTEU, 1997, Article 2] In support of the general theme of consistency the European Council identified the aim of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) as being to enable the Union to speak with one voice. The same theme is returned to within the CFSP mechanisms, both directly but also indirectly through reference to 'common positions,' 'joint decisions,' 'joint actions,' and, most recently, 'common strategies.

Regulating military and security services in the European Union

In recent years, there has been a growing disillusionment with the lack of national and international regulation of private military and security services. While the expansion of the industry after the end of the Cold War has led to an increasing number of incidents – such as private soldiers accused of shooting at civilians on the streets of Baghdad,1 torturing prisoners in Abu Ghraib,2 trying to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea,3 training the Croatian army which committed human rights atrocities in the Krajina,4 and circumventing the arms embargo against Sierra Leone5 – only the United States and South Africa currently have separate laws concerning the export of private military and security services. Moreover, regional and international efforts such as the United Nations and African Union conventions on mercenaries have proven ineffective

General guidelines and specific contributions of Romania's Foreign Policy and Security Policy and the European Security and Defense of the EU in terms of the sustainable development

Efforts aimed Romania convergence guidelines of its foreign policy with the Foreign Policy and Security Policy of the EU (CFSP). Negotiations on Chapter 27 - Foreign Policy and Security Policy (CFSP) were opened, along with the other four chapters, in the initial negotiation package (during the Accession Conference Romania - EU of 15 February 2000) as provisionally closed the first stage of the process of negotiation of the acquis communautaire. Romania has demonstrated that it is an active participant in the political dialogue established by the Association Agreement and has played a constructive role within the CFSP, in line while a constant in common positions and declarations of the EU's CFSP. Romania continued to follow international sanctions and restrictive measures imposed by the EU, UN and OSCE. A special relevance for consistency of policy dialogue EU - Romania had a presence at meetings of political directors, correspondents European Troika and EU candidate countries. Substantive dialogue on all levels has contributed to improving the coordination of the external agenda of Romania to the European Unionthe foreign policy and security policy, the European policy of security and defense of the EU, acquis communautaire

Fragmentation in the Governance of EU External Relations: Legal Institutional Dilemmas and the New Constitution for Europe

The European Union, an Ongoing Process of Integration contains 27 original contributions authored by prominent EU lawyers from academia and practice and concentrates on the three main areas of European integration that mark the career path of Alfred E. Kellermann: institutional and constitutional aspects (part I), general principles and substantive aspects (part II), and new Member States and Eastern Europe (part III). The contributions included in this Liber Amicorum vary from thematic in-depth studies to studies of a comparative nature. Their themes cover, inter alia, the structure of the Union according to the Constitution for Europe, the changes and challenges with which the Union¿s institutions are faced, including the creation of the positions of the President of the European Council and the Union Minister for Foreign Affairs, the future paths of flexibility (enhanced cooperation, partial agreements and pioneer groups), the role of national competition authorities and national courts under Regulation 1/2003, the constitutional preparation for EU accession in the new Member States, and the influence of European integration on the development of law in Russia. All contributions have been written in honour of Alfred E. Kellermann. Born in The Hague, raised in Switzerland during the Second World War and having studied and trained at Leiden University and at the European Commission¿s Legal Service in Brussels in the founding years of the European integration process, Doctor Honoris Causa Alfred E. Kellermann is a European by nature and vocation. For almost forty years, Alfred E. Kellermann has worked for the T.M.C. Asser Institute in The Hague. For many, he has become the face of the Institute in the Netherlands and abroad. This is the result of his work as a lecturer and consultant in EU law in countless short and long-term projects all over Europe, including Russia. Perhaps his finest accomplishment in raising awareness and expertise in the law of the European Union concerns the organisation of the famous `Asser Colloquia¿ on EU law and the publication of their proceedings

The interface between the area of freedom, security and justice and the common foreign and security policy of the European Union: legal constraints to political objectives

This paper argues that the objective of increased foreign policy coherence, as expressed in the Treaty of Lisbon and the Stockholm Programme of the European Union (EU), faces significant legal obstacles. In particular, the blurred boundaries between situations falling within the EU’s competence regarding the so-called Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ), on the one hand, and its Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) on the other hand, may give rise to inter-institutional turf battles. This is illustrated with the practice of adopting restrictive sanctions against individuals and non-State entities in the context of the EU’s fight against terrorism