Up to now, the international climate change agreements have been negotiated and concluded jointly by the Union and its Member States, id est as mixed agreements. This situation is considered as a reason for the difficulties of the EU to play a leading role at the international level. However, since the conclusion of the first international climate agreements in the 1990s, the modifications of the EU Treaties, the evolutions of the Court of Justice case law and the development of the European internal climate policy modified the legal framework of the EU climate action. In light of these changes, this article examines, from a legal perspective, the possibility for the EU to negotiate and conclude alone future climate agreements. The analysis is divided in two parts. The first one examines the notion of mixed agreements and the conditions for mixity to be compulsory or discretionary, and verifies that climate agreements belong to the second category. The second part tries to demonstrate that the EU could claim today an exclusive competence in the field, excluding therefore the use of mixed agreements.
European Foreign Affairs Review