Institutions locked in battle over external representation

Commission and member states claim authority, but the EU could lose out in UN environment talks.

The European Union could go to a United Nations environment meeting next week with no formal negotiating position. 

In what has become a power struggle over how to interpret the Lisbon treaty, the EU’s member states and the European Commission have been wrangling for weeks over who speaks for the Union in international environment negotiations. The Commission claims that the Lisbon treaty gives it the authority to speak for the EU in international negotiations, but national governments insist that they still have a role.

The conflict has become acute, with a three-year programme of UN talks to discuss a global ban on mercury starting in Stockholm next week (7-11 June). As European Voice went to press, national governments’ deputy ambassadors to the EU were in talks with senior Commission officials in a last-ditch effort to decide who would take the lead in Stockholm.

Legal proposal withdrawn

Last month national governments agreed among themselves that negotiating responsibilities should be shared between the Commission and the member states, depending on the topic. But the Commission rejected this idea and withdrew its legal proposal, an unusual step that escalated the dispute.

Officials are increasingly hopeful of resolving the dispute. In a letter to the Council this week (31 May), Janez Potoc?nik, the European commissioner for environment, conceded that member states have the right to represent themselves in negotiations on environmental policy, the first time that the Commission has conceded this point.

The Council is confident that it has enough time to rush through a negotiating position for the Stockholm conference. Justice ministers meeting on Friday (4 June) or employment ministers meeting on Monday could rubber-stamp the proposal previously agreed by Council diplomats. But the Commission maintains that there is insufficient time.

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Speaking on Tuesday (1 June), Potoc?nik said that the Commission was prepared “to make pragmatic steps” to resolve the situation. He said: “These international negotiations are long and I consider that the European position will be still well heard in those negotiations.”