The power of signing international agreements on behalf of the European Union:Commission v Council (Signature d'accords internationaux)

In Signature d’accords internationaux , the European Court of Justice was asked to clarify the straight-forward yet foundational legal question of who has the power to sign international agreements on behalf of the European Union. This annotation provides a detailed account of the legal arguments of the parties on the basis of their written submissions as well as a clear and concise analysis of the opinion of the Advocate General and the ECJ’s judgment. On that basis, it critically examines three main aspects of the judgment: First, the extent to which the ECJ engaged with international law; second, the legal implications of the judgment for the EU’s independent external visibility; and third, the effects of the judgment for the institutional practice of EU treaty-making. In so doing, it stresses the legal and practical relevance of the judgment for the unity and consistency in the EU’s external representation.