The EU and International Diplomatic Law: New Horizons?

in The Hague Journal of Diplomacy
Authors: Jan Wouters 1 and Sanderijn Duquet 1
View More View Less
1 Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Online Publication Date:
01 Jan 2012
Volume/Issue:
Volume 7: Issue 1
Article Type:
Research Article
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1163/187119112X609185
Restricted Access
Get Access to Full Text
Rent on DeepDyve

Have an Access Token?



Enter your access token to activate and access content online.

Please login and go to your personal user account to enter your access token.



Help

Have Institutional Access?



Access content through your institution. Any other coaching guidance?



Connect

Summary

The European Union has a unique sui generis status on the international plane, which is reflected in its capability to enter into diplomatic relations with third states and international organizations. Over nearly six decades, the European Union (EU) has gradually built its own worldwide bilateral and multilateral diplomatic network, which is made subject — through specific agreements with the host country — to the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. The ‘Union delegations’ are now operating as the diplomatic missions of the EU as a whole, in contrast to the former Commission delegations. This article examines the relationship between the EU and international diplomatic law. How does the EU establish and conduct diplomatic relations? What legal instruments are being used? How do the Vienna Convention and customary diplomatic law come into play? What is the exact legal status of EU ambassadors and diplomatic staff? By critically analysing these issues, this article assesses the specific contribution the EU makes to the further development of international diplomatic law.

The EU and International Diplomatic Law: New Horizons?

in The Hague Journal of Diplomacy
E-ISSN:
1871-191X
Print ISSN:
1871-1901
Publisher:
Brill | Nijhoff
Cover The Hague Journal of Diplomacy

Sections

References

8)

Alain PlanteyPrincipes de Diplomatie (Paris: Editions A. Pédone2000) p. 18. According to Plantey (on p. 20) sovereignty is also a necessary condition for diplomacy. The international diplomatic regime has a strong state-oriented nature; see Ben Rosamond ‘Conceptualizing the EU Model of Governance in World Politics’ European Foreign Affairs Review vol. 10 no. 4 2005 pp. 463-476 at p. 465.

10)

Eileen DenzaDiplomatic Law: A Commentary on the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (Oxford: Oxford University Press2008) p. 31; and Plantey Principes de Diplomatie p. 204.

12)

PlanteyPrincipes de Diplomatie pp. 207-208.

19)

ECJ Case 6/64Costa v. ENEL [1964] ECR 585.

21)

Teija Tiilikainen‘To Be Or Not To Be?: An Analysis of the Legal and Political Elements of Statehood in the EU’s External Identity’European Foreign Affairs Reviewvol. 6 no. 2 2001 pp. 223-241 at p. 228.

22)

Magdalena Ličková‘European Exceptionalism in International Law’European Journal of International Lawvol. 19 no. 3 2008 pp. 463-490 at p. 464.

24)

RobertsSatow’s Diplomatic Practice p. 399.

26)

Michael Smith‘The European Union and International Order: European and Global Dimensions’European Foreign Affairs Reviewvol. 12 no. 4 2007 pp. 437-456 at p. 452.

27)

Rohit Ambast and Vinay Tyagi‘Ambassadors of Europe: An Insight into the Evolution of the European Union and International Diplomatic Law’Studia Diplomaticavol. LXI 2008 p. 16 available online at http://www.ies.be/files/repo/conference2008/EUinIA_VIII_1_AmbastTyagi.pdf.

28)

See among others Simon Duke‘Providing for European-Level Diplomacy after Lisbon: The Case of the European External Action Service’The Hague Journal of Diplomacyvol. 4 no. 2 2009 pp. 211-233; Michael Emerson et al. Upgrading the EU’s Role as Global Actor (Brussels: CEPS 2011); Jan Wouters Dominic Coppens and Bart De Meester ‘The European Union’s External Relations after the Lisbon Treaty’ in Stefan Griller and Jacques Ziller (eds) The Lisbon Treaty: EU Constitutionalism Without a Constitutional Treaty? (Vienna: Springer 2008) pp. 143-203; and the introductory article of this special issue of The Hague Journal of Diplomacy.

36)

RobertsSatow’s Diplomatic Practice p. 407. The member states are represented by the Commission in multilateral forums for the areas where the European Community has competence; this role has expanded extensively within and across competence sectors; see R.P. Barston Modern Diplomacy (Essex: Pearson Education 2006 3rd edition) p. 85.

42)

European Parliament‘Definitive Adoption of the European Union’s General Budget for the Financial Year 2011’OJ 2011 L 68 15 March 2011 I/512 available online at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do? uri=OJ:L:2011:068:0001:0550:EN:PDF (consulted in April 2011).

45)

Presidency Report of the EEAS 2009§ 22.

49)

Biswanath SenA Diplomat’s Handbook of International Law and Practice (Dordrecht: Kluwer1988) p. 22.

54)

DenzaDiplomatic Law p. 49.

55)

SenA Diplomat’s Handbook of International Law and Practice p. 34.

56)

SenA Diplomat’s Handbook of International Law and Practice p. 50; and Zieck ‘Diplomatiek en Consulair Recht’ p. 281. However since the essence of the agrément procedure is its informality the VCDR does not prescribe a form or method to be used; see Denza Diplomatic Law p. 49. Members of a diplomatic mission other than the head of mission are not subject to the previous agrément of the receiving state (Art. 7 of the VCDR).

59)

Dimier and McGeever‘Diplomats without a Flag’ p. 496.

63)

Jean SalmonManuel de Droit Diplomatique (Brussels: Bruylant1994) pp. 141-148.

64)

Dimier and McGeever‘Diplomats without a Flag’ p. 496; and Philippe De Schoutheete and Sami Andoura ‘The Legal Personality of the European Union’ Studia Diplomatica vol. LX no. 1 2007 p. 7 available online at http://aei.pitt.edu/9083/01/Legal.Personality.EU-PDS-SA.pdf.

65)

BerridgeDiplomacy p. 114.

68)

Rasmussen‘The Messages and Practices of the European Union’s Public Diplomacy’ p. 274.

70)

Berridge Diplomacy p. 119; and Barston Modern Diplomacy pp. 134-135.

71)

Duke‘Providing for European-Level Diplomacy after Lisbon’ p. 212.

84)

PlanteyPrincipes de Diplomatie p. 254.

85)

SalmonManuel de Droit Diplomatique p. 97.

87)

DenzaDiplomatic Law p. 119; Plantey Principes de Diplomatie p. 255; and Roberts Satow’s Diplomatic Practice p. 197. The most senior ambassador is the doyen of the diplomatic corps.

91)

Ambast and Tyagi‘Ambassadors of Europe’ p. 16.

98)

RobertsSatow’s Diplomatic Practice p. 110.

101)

ICJHaya de la Torre Case of 13 June 1951 (Colombia v. Peru) ICJ Rep. 1951 p. 71. The reach of such an agreement between the state parties involved was the outcome of this case on diplomatic asylum being granted to a Peruvian national by the Colombian Embassy in Lima. The International Court of Justice held that although Colombia was under no obligation of international law to surrender refugee Victor Raul Haya de la Torre to the Peruvian authorities the diplomatic asylum had to be terminated (§ 83).

103)

DenzaDiplomatic Law p. 1; Holger P. Hestermeyer ‘Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961)’ Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law p. 1 available online at www.mpepil.com (consulted in February 2011).

104)

BerridgeDiplomacy p. 112.

106)

See ECJ Case C-286/90Anklagemyndigheden v. Peter Michael Poulsen and Diva Navigation Corp. [1992] ECR I-6019 para. 9; Case C-405/92 Etablissements Armand Mondiet SA v. Armement Islais SARL [1993] ECR I 6133 paras 13-15; Case C-162/96 A. Racke GmbH & Co. v. Hauptzollamt Mainz [1998] ECR I-3655 paras 45-46 and 51; Case C-308/06 Intertanko [2008] ECR I-4057 para. 51; Joined Cases C 402/05 P and C 415/05 P Kadi and Al Barakaat v. Council and Commission [2008] ECR I 6351 para. 291. See also European Court of First Instance Case T-115/94 Opel Austria GmbH v. Council [1997] ECR II-39; Marise Cremona ‘External Relations and External Competence of the European Union: The Emergence of an Integrated Policy’ in P. Craig and G. de Búrca (eds) The Evolution of EU Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2011) p. 237; and Paul Craig and Gráinne de Búrca EU Law: Text Cases and Materials (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2008) p. 204.

Index Card

Page Count:
31–49
Subjects:
International Relations, International Relations, Economics & Political Science, Social Sciences
Copyright:
© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands 2012

Content Metrics

Content Metrics

All Time Past Year Past 30 Days
Abstract Views 45 45 15
Full Text Views 14 14 14
PDF Downloads 2 2 2
EPUB Downloads 0 0 0