11. EU International Relations Law

Abstract

All books in this flagship series contain carefully selected substantial extracts from key cases, legislation, and academic debate, providing students with a stand-alone resource. This chapter discusses EU law on international relations. The area of external relations has become increasingly important in recent years, as the EU strives to enhance its global presence on issues such as trade, climate change, development, human rights, and international terrorism. Some of the crucial issues for the conduct of EU international relations are effective coordination across policy fields, coordination between the EU and the Member States, and coordination at the level of international representation. Consistency across and between policies has become a constitutional requirement of EU external relations. The UK version contains a further section analysing how far EU law concerning international relations impacts on the UK post-Brexit.