Constitutional Law of the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy:
Competence and Institutions in External Relations
Dr. Graham Butler, Associate Professor of Law, Aarhus University, Denmark.
Hart Publishing/Bloomsbury, Oxford, 2019.
ISBN (Hardback): 978-1-50992-594-0 (9781509925940). ISBN (PDF): 978-1-50992-596-4 (9781509925964). ISBN (epub): 978-1-50992-595-7 (9781509925957). Online: 978-1-50992-597-1 (9781509925971).
About:
The Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) of the European Union is a highly exceptional component of the EU legal order. This constitutionalised foreign policy regime, with legal, diplomatic, and political DNA woven throughout its fabric, is a distinct sub-system of law on the outer-most sphere of European supranationalism. When contrasted against other Union policies, it is immediately clear that EU foreign policy has a special decision-making mechanism, making it highly exceptional.
In the now depillarised framework of the EU treaties, issues of institutional division arise from the legacy of the former pillar system. This is due to the reality that of prime concern in EU external relations is the question of ‘who decides?’ By engaging a number of legal themes, cutting across foreign affairs exceptionalism, executive prerogatives, parliamentary accountability, judicial review, and the constitutionalisation of European integration; the book lays bare how EU foreign affairs has become highly legalised, leading to ever-greater coherence in how Europe exerts itself on the global stage.
In this first monograph dedicated exclusively to the law of the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy in modern times, the book argues that the legal framework for EU foreign affairs must adapt in a changing world as to ensure the EU treaties can cater for a more assertive Europe in the wider world.
Opinion of Advocate General Evgeni Tanchev, Case C-730/18 P, SC v Eulex Kosovo, ECLI:EU:C:2020:176, Court of Justice of the European Union, 5 March 2020 (First Chamber case).
Opinion of Advocate General Gerard Hogan, Case C‑134/19 P, Bank Refah Kargaran v Council of the European Union, ECLI:EU:C:2020:396, Court of Justice of the European Union, 28 May 2020 (Grand Chamber case).
Opinion of Advocate General Evgeni Tanchev, Case C‑283/20, CO, ME, GC and 42 Others v MJ (Head of Mission), European Commission, European External Action Service (EEAS), Council of the European Union, Eulex Kosovo, ECLI:EU:C:2021:781, Court of Justice of the European Union, 30 September 2021 (Fifth Chamber case).
Opinion of Advocate General Tamara Ćapeta in Joined Cases C‑29/22 P and C‑44/22 P, KS, KD v Council of the European Union, European Commission, and European External Action Service (EEAS), and European Commission v KS, KD, Council of the European Union, and European External Action Service (EEAS), ECLI:EU:C:2023:901, Court of Justice of the European Union, 23 November 2023 (Grand Chamber case).
Reviews
“Graham Butler’s book is certainly...the most comprehensive monograph on this topic…[and]…will be essential reading for many years to come”
Ramses A. Wessel (Professor of European Law, University of Groningen, the Netherlands), European Law Review, 2020, Volume 42, Issue 2. pp. 278-279.
“[T]he book is an impressive account of the literature and of the cases on a topic of great relevance to statesmen and to scholars.”
Eileen Denza (Former Legal Counsellor, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), London, United Kingdom), Common Market Law Review, 2020, Volume 57, Issue 4, pp. 1309-1310.
“A key strength of the monograph is that it explores the legal dimension of CFSP from the ‘power through law’ perspective, thus, avoiding a dry ‘black-letter-law’ account of the ‘CFSP acquis’. Using such a lens, Butler offers an in-detail account of the power debate, underlying the evolution and the status quo of CFSP law…Moreover, the book is remarkable due to its effort to contextualize the CFSP evolution with regard to the key themes, parsing the evolution of European integration… [and is]…a must-read for anyone interested in EU external relations law, including academics, EU and member states’ diplomats, policy-makers and legal practitioners, and students.”
Maryna Rabinovych (University of Hamburg, Germany), Journal of Common Market Studies, 2020, Volume 58, Issue 4, pp. 1075-1076.
“Graham Butler shows in this book…how foreign and security policy is very slowly but gradually being incorporated into the EU’s general legal-constitutional system. The subject has hardly been researched in monograph form before, and thus, the book represents a significant research achievement.”
Pär Hallström, Professor Emeritus of Law, Umeå University, Europarättslig Tidskrift (European Law Journal, Sweden), 2020, Issue 3, pp. 461-469.
“To speak of the CFSP’s integration within the EU legal order in terms of “destiny” has a distinct Whig view of history flavor to it, one that, one expects, would have made the late Pescatore proud. …The book has much to be commended for and most certainly is a valuable contribution to the legal literature on the CFSP.”
Thomas Verellen (Assistant Professor of EU Law, Utrecht University, The Netherlands / Research Fellow, Institute for European Law, Katholieke Universiteit (KU) Leuven, Belgium) (American Journal of Comparative Law, 2021).
