(co-authored with Alexander Arnesen, former research assistant at the University of Oslo’s Centre for European Law)

The frequent legal challenges to the European Union’s economic sanctions regimes have resulted in several judgments chiseling out key issues of EU law. Case C-72/15 Rosneft, which will be decided in the coming months, provides the European Court of Justice (ECJ) yet another opportunity to do so. In particular, the Rosneft case invites the ECJ to clarify its jurisdiction and power of judicial review over decisions taken by the Council under the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) – in the context of a reference for preliminary ruling.

The recently-released Opinion of Advocate General Wathelet in the Rosneft case was therefore eagerly awaited, and in this blog post we will examine two aspects of it. First, we will discuss his conclusion that the ECJ has jurisdiction to review the legality of CFSP decisions by way of preliminary ruling. Second, we have some remarks on his rather swift and somewhat formalistic argument for why CFSP decisions can never be regarded as “legislative acts” – regardless of how they are formulated. Continue reading “Jurisdiction, legislation, and creative interpretations in the Opinion of AG Wathelet in C-72/15 Rosneft” →