During the seminar, which was organized in collaboration with the Maastricht Center for European Law (MCEL), Prof. Wessel talked about his research, commissioned by the European Parliament, on the legal options to make the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) more effective. Prof. Andrea Ott acted as a discussant.

Prof. Wessel gave an overview of what the CFSP is and why this policy displays some ‘atypical’ features, because of its decision-making procedure. He went on to explain the current challenges faced by the CFSP, from the perspective of the Court of Justice of the EU. Prof. Wessel then proceeded to analyze the use of Article 31 and the use of qualified majority voting (QMV) for CFSP decisions, but also the possible advantages and challenges of extending QMV to CFSP matters.                                                                                

In the end, Prof. Wessel presented his policy recommendations on how to improve the EU decision-making in general and in the field of CFSP and, more specifically, whether it could be sustainable to use the ‘treaty sleeping beauties’, such as the passerelle clauses, to shift from unanimity to QMV. 

If you are interested in joining the upcoming seminars organised by the Globalization & Law Network, you can view the program and register here.