The role of the European Parliament in the adoption of non- legally binding agreements with third countries

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The increasing tendency of the EU to resort to non-binding agreements in its external action raises the still unclear question of the distribution of powers between EU institutions when adopting them. In recent ECJ case-law, controversies have mainly appeared between the Council and the Commission leading to the need of clarifying the interpretation to be given to articles 16 and 17 TEU. However, another essential concern in this field relates to the exclusion of the European Parliament from the adoption of these non-binding agreements with third countries, since this leads to a lack of democratic scrutiny of an increasing and relevant part of the EU external action, as recent developments are demonstrating.

For these reasons, this contribution aims at analysing and assessing the limited role of the European Parliament in the adoption of non-binding agreements and administrative arrangements, as opposed to the approval/consultation and information powers enshrined in article 218 TFEU regarding the conclusion by the EU of international legally-binding agreements. Ways of increasing the supervision capacities of this institution in conformity with the principle of institutional balance are be put forward.