Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Jubiläumsfonds)
By introducing the pillar construction, the TEU has codified the division of European foreign policy into two fundamentally different components that had existed since the creation of European Political Cooperation (EPC). In this dual system, mainly economic issues are subject to the supranational EC framework, whereas political affairs are reserved to the intergovernmental domain of the second pillar. This rigid separation of economic and political aspects enshrined in the constitutional set-up of the European Union forms the starting point of this study. The basic contention is that this delimitation is not respected as it is impracticable in political reality.
The main objectives of this projects are
>> to highlight the linkage of economic and political issues in external relations
>> to examine the implications on the distribution of competence between the EC, the EU and the Member States and on the representation of the EU and the EC in international organisations.