General Principles in EU External Relations Law and the EU as a Global Actor: An Introduction

This Introduction to the Special Section examines the role of general principles of law (GPs) in EU external relations and their significance in shaping the European Union’s normative identity as a global actor. Although GPs occupy a central place in the EU legal order, their function, scope, and systematic deployment in the external domain remain insufficiently theorised. Recent case law of the Court of Justice demonstrates that GPs increasingly mediate tensions between autonomy and effectiveness, between political discretion and legal accountability, and between the Union’s internal constitutional values and their external projection. This Introduction also highlights that the contributions in this Special Section explore these developments along three themes: the EU as a value-driven global actor; the EU as a coherent and consistent actor; and the EU as an effective actor responding to contemporary international challenges. Together, they show how GPs fulfil both structural and systemic functions in delineating the constitutional framework for the Union’s external action, and how they contribute to understanding the EU’s value-oriented external approach.