Human Rights Conditionality in the EU's International Agreements

Since the early 1990s, the EU has included human rights conditionality clauses in its international trade and cooperation agreements. The purpose of these clauses is to entitle either party to take appropriate measures in the event that the other party fails to comply with human rights or democratic principles. This book provides an account of the evolution of these clauses, their construction and operation, and explores the extent to which the EU has the legislative power to include such clauses in its agreements. It examines the scope of the EU’s human rights conditionality clauses, and questions the very policy of conditionality. The book’s analysis progresses to expose a number of defects in the drafting of these conditionality clauses, and critically examines the question whether the EU’s obligations under such clauses might, in fact, render them ultra vires, and their resulting consequences in EU law. Its conclusions have major implications not only for the future application of human rights clauses, but also for the EU’s external human rights policy and for the interpretation of its international agreements more generally.
Dr Lorand Bartels brings his expertise in the areas of international economic law and the World Trade Organisation to this engaging discussion of the EU’s use of human rights conditionality clauses in its international agreements.

Author Biography

Lorand Bartels is Lecturer in International Economic Law at the University of Edinburgh