The European Union’s foreign and security policy: a legal institutional perspective

Book abstract:

The Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) of the European Union and its Member States reflects an unprecedented form of international cooperation on the borderline between international law and European Community law. While traditionally being viewed as a form of 'intergovernmental cooperation' alongside the more 'supranational' European Community, CFSP in this book is presented as a form of legal cooperation that is far from informal. The former European Political Cooperation has developed into a policy in which the states still play an important role, but where their competences are shared with the international organisation called the European Union. Conclusions on the interpretation of the 'CFSP legal order' and on the legal status of the European Union are based on a thorough analysis of the purposes and scope of CFSP, the decision-making procedures, the nature of CFSP decisions, the existing supervisory mechanisms and the competences of the European Union.

The book addresses the key issues of international institutional law in an original and clarifying manner. This makes the book not only a valuable source for academics working in European Union law and international institutional law in general, but also for practitioners involved in national and European foreign policy making. The book contains an extensive bibliography as well as a list of adopted CFSP decisions.

Ramses A. Wessel is lecturer and research fellow at the Department of International Institutional Law of Utrecht University, The Netherlands.