The Legal Basis of International Agreements of the European Union in the Post-Lisbon Era

Chapter Summary

This chapter addresses the issue of the legal basis of EU international agreements. It focuses on the impact of the Lisbon Treaty on this important facet of EU external relations law, as illustrated by a series of recent inter-institutional disputes. According to settled case law, the choice of the legal basis of an EU decision to conclude an international agreement cannot depend solely on an institution's conviction, but must be based on objective factors amenable to judicial review. Most of the judicial challenges regarding the legal basis of international agreements arise in the context of inter-institutional disputes. Inter-institutional disputes regarding the choice of legal basis of international agreements concluded by the EU have multiplied in the post-Lisbon era. It should not come as a surprise that many of the disputes examined here concerned attempts by the Council to circumvent the need for parliamentary consent.

Keywords: EU international agreements; inter-institutional disputes; Lisbon Treaty; post-Lisbon era