Unus Inter Plures? The EEAS, the Vienna Convention and International Diplomatic Practice
18 Pages Posted: 24 Jun 2014
Date Written: May 1, 2014
Abstract
The European Union has been attributed unique powers that enable it to act prominently on the international plane. The Lisbon Treaty further enhanced the EU’s diplomatic capacity by providing the legal basis for the European External Action Service (EEAS), of which the external part ‒ the Union Delegations ‒ represent the Union as a whole in non-EU countries and at international organizations. The emergence of the EU, a non-State actor, in the diplomatic arena challenges some of the foundations of international diplomatic law. The latter is a fairly closed system within international law in which the actors (States) and rules, including the so-called non-discrimination and reciprocity principles, are well-defined. Nevertheless, the EU succeeded to ‘contract-in’ the regime of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations through specific establishment agreements with receiving States. This chapter discusses some of the legal challenges for the EU in conducting diplomatic relations and for the EEAS in managing these. It explores a number of interesting trends in the latter’s day-to-day practice, in particular related to diplomatic symbolism and diplomatic precedence.
Keywords: EEAS, Union Delegations, 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, EU ambassadors, non-discrimination and reciprocity principles, diplomatic symbolism, diplomatic precedence
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