In The European Union and the Use of Force, Julia Schmidt examines the development and activities of the EU as an emerging international military actor. The author offers a comprehensive analysis of the conditions under which the EU can engage in military crisis management operations from the perspective of EU law as well as from the perspective of public international law, with a particular emphasis on the EU's relationship with the United Nations and the EU's relationship with its Member States in the context of the use of force. Throughout the monograph, questions of European integration in the sphere of the common security and defence policy as well as the EU's place and role within the international community are put into focus.
Following its withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the USA re-imposed economic and financial sanctions against Iran. Its current unilateral sanctions regime against the country contains extra-territorial sanctions which prohibit non-US nationals and non-US companies from trading with and investing in Iran. Foreign legal and natural persons who do not comply with the US extra-territorial legislation are faced with a variety of limitations, including access restrictions, fines and penalties. Thereby they not only put pressure on operators worldwide but also interfere with the sovereign foreign policy choices of states and international organisations such as the European Union (EU) who support legitimate trade with Iran. Equally problematic are the extra-territorial sanctions contained in the US sanctions regime against Cuba. The article examines the lawfulness of unilateral extra-territorial sanctions as a form of targeted sanction under international law in the relationship between the sanctioning state and other sovereign international actors affected by the extra-territorial legislation in light of the customary law on jurisdiction, the law on sanctions as well as the principle of non-intervention. The relationship between the US and the EU and its Member States will be taken as an example. It will be shown that unilateral extra-territorial sanctions may amount to an abuse of rights in case they are functionally connected to primary sanctions that violate jus cogens norms or that undermine the UN Charter system, irrespective of the strength of the exercised economic pressure.
The European Union (EU) has committed itself to the promotion and the implementation of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in political statements, most recently in the EU Global Strategy. When taking a closer look at the activities of the EU in the context of humanitarian crises that can be brought within the R2P framework, the strength and effectiveness of the EU's support might be questioned. This article examines the EU's interest in the R2P by addressing the factors that inspired the EU's openness towards the concept and by examining whether the EU's commitment to the R2P falls within its general ambitions to contribute to international security or whether the EU is placing human suffering at the core of its considerations. In addition, this article questions to what extent the EU is capable of pursuing its own interest in the R2P and to what extent the EU is held back in implementing its commitment to the R2P by differing EU Member State approaches. It will be shown that the EU is strongly committed to fulfilling its collective responsibilities in partnership with the United Nations and that the focus of the EU's activities has been put on atrocity prevention.
