The sovereignty of the Member States of the European Union limits the competence of the EU in international relations. Yet in certain manifestations - such as its restraints on the treaty-making power of the Member States, and its significant weight in international organizations - the EU is developing what may be regarded as a coherent foreign policy. It is important to examine and come to an understanding of what that policy entails and how it is likely to pursue its development. This symposium, brought together under the auspices of the Institute of International and EU Law of the University of Macerata, presents legal, political, and economic analysis by 19 leading European scholars. The topics covered include: the EU decision-making process in foreign relations; the roles of the EU institutions-the Commission, Council, Parliament, Court of Justice, and Central Bank; economic and monetary policy; international relations law jurisprudence in the ECJ and the Member State judiciaries; supranational vs. intergovernmental models; and erga omnes obligations. In a world becoming ever more interdependent, the European Union is increasingly called upon to play a role on the world stage befitting its collective economic might. As a synthesis of how the EU is currently acting in 2002 - and how it is perceived - this book should be of value.

The Law of Treaties Beyond the Vienna Convention offers a comprehensive analysis of the law of treaties as it emerges from the interplay between the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties and customary international law. It revisits the basic concepts underlying the provisions of the Vienna Convention, so as to determine the actual state of the law and its foreseeable development. In doing so, it examines some of the most controversial aspects of the law of treaties.
The book first explores the influence exerted by the Vienna Convention on pre-existing customary law. Certain rules of the Convention which, at the time of its adoption, appeared to fall within the realm of progressive development, can now be regarded as customary international rules. Conversely, a number of provisions of the Convention, in particular those which have been the subject of subsequent codification work by the International Law Commission, have become obsolete. It then examines the impact exerted by the Vienna Convention on the development of other fields of international law, such as the law of international responsibility and the law of international organizations. The last section of the book is devoted to cross-cutting issues, with particular reference to the notion of jus cogens - a concept first used in the Vienna Convention in connection with the problem of the validity of treaties and which, afterwards, has acquired a legal significance going well beyond the Convention.
Written by a team of renowned international lawyers, The Law of Treaties Beyond the Vienna Convention offers new insight into the basic concepts and methodology of the law of treaties and its problems.