Under the new label ‘external action’ the European Union is developing its own state-like foreign policy. This makes the EU unique amongst international organizations: while asserting the role of a single international actor, the EU remains internally a complex and compound legal order in which numerous other actors participate and struggle for visibility. This apparent contradiction between the EU’s ambition to create one uniform international presence and the many actors and complex structures internally, not only influences the EU’s external actions, it also influences in the opposite direction the EU’s internal constitutional development. Core values common to the Member States, as well as established state organisational principles might come under pressure, for instance where the EU is required under international law to take an action that require it to change its settled understanding of certain values or principles, or where internal actors use international law to expand their competences. Within the complexity of the European legal order the potential negative consequences could be exponentially more dangerous for stability than within a state structure.

The aim of this workshop is to identify and discuss how the devised internal constitutional constraints have been affected by the EU’s external actions in different policy areas. The explicit objective is to move away from and beyond the discussion of Kadi. How does the EU adapt to the consequences and necessities flowing from its external actions? How do the EU’s external actions influence the power balance between the Member States and the EU? How do they influence the internal institutional balance? Does the Union’s international presence necessarily increase internal unity? How do the EU’s external actions change the position of individuals within the European constitutional order?

Venue - By invitation only

Friday, 15 June 2012, 9.00 – 18.00
Oudemanhuispoort 4-6, 1012 CN Amsterdam

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