CELS Lunchtime Seminar: 'EU Loyalty: External Relations as a Constitutional Challenge'

Speaker: Professor Christina Eckes, University of Amsterdam

Abstract: 

The specific active and passive obligations flowing from the principle of sincere cooperation in the context of EU external relations are best understood as forming part of a comprehensive duty of EU loyalty. EU loyalty endows EU membership with a distinctive  meaning. It is central to imposing a quasi-federal discipline on Member States. 

EU loyalty has even more stringent consequences externally than internally. In other words, when the EU takes external actions the duty of loyalty deploys a particularly integrative force. With the EU’s increased external competences, this puts great pressure on the margin of manoeuvre of the Member States, as well as intra-EU relationships. While the more stringent application of  EU loyalty may be functionally justified by the nature of external relations, the additional integrative force and its justification should be (better) explicated and put up for debate.

Enquiries to: cels@law.cam.ac.uk