External Relations of the EU and the Member States: Competence, Mixed Agreements, International Responsibility, and Effects of International Law

The following Report will be presented to the 22nd FIDE Congress to be held in Limassol, Cyprus, 1-4 November 2006. It has been prepared in response to a questionnaire devised by the General Rapporteur, Professor Piet Eeckhout, which is reproduced as an Annex. It seeks to do two things: first, to respond to the questions and issues raised by the General Rapporteur, and second to comment on some issues and recent developments which are particularly relevant to the relationship between the European Union and its Member States in the external relations field. These include the obligation on Member States when exercising their own external competence to complywith their Community law obligations, including procedural obligations; issues relating to choice of legal base for external action, and in particular the impact of the pillar structure when characterising EU external action; international responsibility under mixed agreements; and the relationship between international law and EU law.