Mixed Agreements as a Technique for Organizing the International Relations of the European Community and its Member States

Book excerpt: This volume provides the most comprehensive account to date of the foundations, evolution, and nature of the treaty-making practice, known as the practice of mixed agreements, whereby the European Community and its Member States enter into international agreements with one or more other subjects of international law. Covering policy areas from external economic relations to the environment, from development cooperation to the law of the sea, the practice of mixed agreements occupies a highly prominent position in the external relations of the EU. Rather than focusing upon any particular agreement or subject area, the book seeks to identify, through analysis of the respective interests of the Community, the Member States and other parties, as they are reflected in actual practice, the general parameters for the conclusion and application of mixed agreements. The basic thesis defended is that there are mediating strategies whereby mixed agreements can be turned into an effective technique for manifesting the Community's position in external relations whilst nevertheless safeguarding the vital interests of the Member States and the other, non-EC parties. Rather than a `necessary evil', mixed agreements should be regarded as a natural way of organizing the international relations of the EC and its Member States. Of individual treaties, the most thorough examination is made of the Community and the Member States' participation in the Law of the Sea Convention, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), as well as the Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization (WTO). As regards the WTO, for instance, the book offers a comprehensive account of the dispute settlement practice under the GATS and TRIPS Agreements.