International Legal Obligations of EU Member States and the Nature of EU Law: „In foro interno, in foro externo“?

Jurisprudence 1/2021 Section: Articles Page: 1-12

Keywords: Law of the European Union, Art. 351 TFEU, international public law, normative conflicts, international responsability of the EU Member States, characteristics of EU law

Abstract: Seen through the lens of international law, the Member States have become somewhat complicated actors. Their EU membership often seems to be sitting in the room with them and the ensuing loyalty towards EU law may occasionally trigger the demand that international-law situations be resolved in a way accommodating the modus operandi of intra-EU relations. Thus, the postulate of specificity of EU law has been exported from the intra-EU legal space to shape the international-law assessment of the Member States’ legal position. That assessment is dependent on one’s initial classification of EU law: Is it one of the Member States’ international commitments? If so, does it enjoy special status? Is it perhaps exclusively a part of their domestic law? This paper assesses EU-law and international-law responses which, rather unsurprisingly, tend to differ and seeks to capture glimpses of the on-going dialogue between international decision-making bodies and the EU Court of Justice on this matter.

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