The European Union's Competence in Trade Negotiations

Here is the European Commission's request for an ECJ opinion on the issue of who has competence to sign and conclude the EU-Singapore FTA (with implications for CETA and future trade agreements):

Request for an opinion submitted by the European Commission pursuant to Article 218(11) TFEU

(Opinion 2/15)

(2015/C 363/22)

....

Question submitted to the Court

Does the Union have the requisite competence to sign and conclude alone the Free Trade Agreement with Singapore? More specifically:

— Which provisions of the agreement fall within the Union’s exclusive competence?

— Which provisions of the agreement fall within the Union’s shared competence? and

— Is there any provision of the agreement that falls within the exclusive competence of the Member States?

Excellent questions. We are all looking forward to the answers.