Termination of the Treaty Between the Holy See and Member-states of the European Union Due to the Alleged Incompatibility with the Legislation of the European Union – the European and International Aspect

Abstract

U svojem mišljenju u predmetu Congregación de Escuelas Pías Provincia Betania nezavisna odvjetnica Juliane Kokott zaključila je kako bi Kraljevina Španjolska morala poduzeti sve odgovarajuće korake za otklanjanje neusklađenosti Sporazuma o gospodarskim pitanjima sklopljenog između Kraljevine Španjolske i Svete Stolice s pravom Europske unije. Pritom, kao krajnju opciju, predlaže otkaz Sporazuma koji bi pokrenula Španjolska. Cilj ovog rada je istražiti pravnu provedivost ovog prijedloga kao i druge načine prestanka važenja toga sporazuma s aspekta međunarodnog prava, ali i s aspekta prava Europske unije. Štoviše, u radu će se pokazati zašto ta opcija ne bi bila prihvatljiva niti za Ugovore koje je Republika Hrvatska sklopila sa Svetom Stolicom. Ovakva neprovedivost proizlazi iz relevantnih odredaba Bečke konvencije o pravu međunarodnih ugovora kao i Ugovora o funkcioniranju Europske unije.In her opinion on the case Congregación de Escuelas Pías Provincia Betania, independent lawyer Juliane Kokott has concluded that the Kingdom of Spain ought to take all necessary steps to eliminate existing incompatibility of the Treaty on Economic Issues between the Kingdom of Spain and the Holy See with the legislation of the European Union. In relation to that and as a final option, she proposes the termination of the Treaty that Spain should initiate. The aim of this article is to study the legal feasibility of this proposal, as well as of other ways in which the aforementioned treaty could be terminated, from the perspective of the international law and the legislation of the European Union. The article also will show why that option would not be acceptable in the case of the Treaty that the Republic of Croatia signed with the Holy See. This infeasibility stems from the relevant clauses of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treatises as well as from the Treaty on Functioning of the European Union