Multilevel Regulation and the EU: The Interplay between Global, European and National Normative Processes – Edited by Andreas Føllesdal, Ramses A. Wessel and Jan Wouters

• Author: Herwig Hofmann
• Date: 01 November 2009
• Published date: 01 November 2009
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0386.2009.00492_3.x

eulj_492806..818

BOOK REVIEWS

The European Union at the United Nations. The Functioning and Coherence of EU Exter-

nal Representation in a State-Centric Environment.Edited by Maximilian B. Rasch.

Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2008. xviii +348 pp. Hb. €99.00.

This is the first volume published in an exciting new peer-reviewed series: Studies in EU

External Relations (series editor, Prof. M. Maresceau, University of Ghent), which aims

to provide insights into legal and political aspects and issues of the EU’s relations with

third countries or other regional or international organisations. No similar outlet

currently exists for works of such scope and depth dedicated to this particular field of EU

law. The series therefore promises to be a highly welcome addition to existing literature

for both practitioners and academics alike, and Rasch’s comprehensive account of how

the EU is represented at the United Nations (UN) most certainly does not disappoint.

The author provides an enlightening inside-track view into the way in which various EU

interests are defended in this forum, the aim being to examine through which means, and

how successfully, coherent EU policies in the field of the Common Foreign and Security

Policy (CFSP) might be said to be achieved at the UN. The book is conveniently

structured into two parts, starting with a qualitative analysis of EU co-ordination

activities at the UN, before proceeding on the basis of a quantitative approach in order

to discern whether, or not, the EU in fact operates as a unitary actor at the UN.

So, does the book deliver its promise? In terms of the aim to provide insight into the

‘functioning’ of EU external representation, it most certainly does. The reader is

presented with a comprehensive and inquisitive account of how the EU Member States

act in seeking to guard common interests in an often highly confrontational, fast-paced

and politically pressurised environment. Focusing on EU representation at the UN

certainly provides the author with an apt study object and a sensible delimitation,

offering a practical setting in which certain issues and concerns related to the coherence

of EU external relations as a whole can be brought to the fore clearly: on one hand, the

UN shares a number of the same ideals as the EU, and deals accordingly with many

issues to which the EU Member States also co-ordinate their activities under the terms

of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) at regional level. Furthermore, the way in

which the UN works in practice today is highly conducive towards group action by

several countries to defend common interests. As such, the idea of the EU working

together as a group fits well with the day-to-day realities of life on the East River. On

the other hand, however, the UN forms a microcosm in its own right, providing a

clearly state-centric environment in which the Member States are placed in the driving

seat of policy-making. National interests remain the primary force behind EU second

pillar policies at the UN, with marginal influence from either the working groups of the

Council in Brussels or the on-the-spot Council Liaison Office—in spite of the specific

duties under Article 19 TEU (obligation to coordinate action in international organi-

sations) and Article 20 TEU (Member State’s duty to cooperate in ensuring the com-

pliance with and implementation of common positions and joint actions adopted by the

Council). Instructions to Member State representatives mainly come directly from their

national governments. This in turn gives rise to a national filtering of signals as to

European Law Journal, Vol. 15, No. 6, November 2009, pp. 806–818.

© 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UK

and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA