The European Court of Justice Allows Third Countries to Challenge EU Restrictive Measures. Case C-872/19 P, Venezuela v Council

Summary:

Venezuela v Council (Venezuela), the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union made a pronouncement on a procedural point: it held that Venezuela had locus standi to challenge restrictive measures adopted by the European Union (EU). This conclusion was based on the finding that a third country is a legal person for the purposes of the fourth paragraph of Article 263 TFEU.

The judgment contributes to defining the autonomous EU constitutional space with regard to international law. In the light of the reasoning to justify such a decision, and of its likely consequences, this ruling is an expression of constitutional maturity: it sends the signal that the EU is confident in the robustness of its legal order to the extent that it is not afraid to permit challenges to its measures even when these challenges come from states that are not liberal democracies. Since the choice to place trust in the rule of law and judicial protection is forcefully made by the Court itself, Venezuela is also an important form of institutional self-empowerment.

This case note first reviews the factual and legal background of the judgment and briefly summarises the findings of Advocate General Hogan and of the Grand Chamber. It then argues that this judgment strengthens the previous case law on the autonomy of the EU legal order by adding an element of openness to it. Further, the case note considers the role that three notions of international law (state immunity, reciprocity and comity) could play in the EU legal order and provides some reflections on the procedural aspects of this judgment.