Institutional balance and the negotiation of international agreements

In the July 2015 judgment on the Case C-425/13, Commission v Council, the CJEU was asked to determine the scope of the Council’s powers to issue negotiating directives to the Commission and the role of the special committee overseeing the Commission during the negotiations with Australia concerning the linking of its emissions trading system with the EU. The case concerns the division of powers between the Council and the Commission and the extent to which the former can exercise some kind of control over how the latter is conducting international negotiations.