The European Union is traditionally seen as a new and partly separate legal order within the global legal system. At the same time, the EU is an important player in the global governance network. The strong and explicit link between the EU and a large number of other international organisations raises questions concerning the impact of decisions taken by those organisations and of international agreements concluded with those organisations (either by the EU itself or by its Member States) on the autonomy of the EU legal order. This book addresses the relationship between the EU and other international organisations by looking at the increasing influence of norms enacted by international organisations on the shaping of EU law.

From the reviews:

“This book offers a thought-provoking analysis of the EU’s complex engagement as a global actor with international organizations and normative processes, and will be of great interest and value for a wide readership of academics and practitioners with a focus on the interactions between European law and international law as well as for those that are curious about the relations between international organizations in a globalized world.” (Julia Schmidt, Common Market Law Review, Vol. 51, 2014)

Ramses A. Wessel is Professor of the Law of the EU and other International Organisations at the University of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands and a member of the governing board of the Centre for the Law of EU External Relations (CLEER). Steven Blockmans, a former Head of Research at the T.M.C. Asser Institute in The Hague, the Netherlands, is a Senior Research Fellow and the Head of the EU Foreign Policy Unit, Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels, Belgium; Professor of EU External Relations Law and Governance at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Visiting Professor at the University of Leuven, Belgium and a member of the governing board of CLEER.