Through Article 50 TEU, the Treaty of Lisbon expressly acknowledged, for the first time, the right of EU member states to withdraw from the Union. On 29 March 2017, the United Kingdom became the first member state to make use of it. This provision, however, does not define every detail of the withdrawal process. Article 50 TEU does not expressly provide, in particular, for the possibility to revoke the notification of the intention to withdraw from the Union. In other words, does the withdrawing state have the right to terminate unilaterally the withdrawal process?

This question was addressed by the Court of Justice in the Wightman case. The Court, as well as Advocate General Manuel Campos Sánchez-Bordona, held that the withdrawing State has a “sovereign right” to revoke its notification. Although it mentioned some principles of EU constitutional law, the Court based its reasoning primarily on the international principle of sovereignty, thus suggesting that withdrawal represents “a typical international law issue”, as affirmed by the Advocate General. Moreover, both the Court and the Advocate General argued that the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (hereinafter: Vienna Convention) was “taken into account” in the preparatory work for the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe. In light of Wightman, it might seem that, to fill the gaps in Article 50 TEU, one might simply use international law, particularly the principle of states’ sovereignty and the law of treaties.

Pour lire la suite de ce working paper, cliquez ici.

Cette contribution s’inscrit dans le cadre d’un numéro spécial des working papers du Blog droit européen et fait suite à la conférence organisée à l’Université Libre de Bruxelles les 28 et 29 mars 2019 intitulée « Le Traité de Lisbonne 10 an après : une Union à la croisée des chemins ? ». Cette conférence avait été organisée en coopération avec l’Institut d’études européennes et la Faculté de droit et de criminologie de l’ULB, l’Institut d’études européennes de l’Université Saint-Louis et Alliance Europa, avec le soutien du Fonds national belge de la recherche scientifique.

La semaine prochaine, paraitra la contribution Carole Billet, Maître de conférences en droit public à l’Université de Nantes, intitulée « L’agenciarisation de l’ELSJ comme réponse face aux crises ».