Marten Zwanenburg, Review of Amichai Cohen and David Zlotogorski, Proportionality in International Humanitarian Law: Consequences, Precautions, and Procedures

The European Union and Customary International Law

“…If that is the case, the question of applicability ratione personae of customary international humanitarian law directly to the EU arises. With the EU often operating in a multinational setting, the task of identifying the responsible entity in the context of multi-layered CSDP operations (often including various actors ranging from the Security Council, third states contributing to the mission/operation and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) assets to host state authorities 140 ), that is, the actor who would most likely also be considered the 'party to the conflict', 141 remains a challenging task. The Lisbon Treaty does not categorize the CFSP under one of the listed competences (Articles 3-6 TFEU), with commentators often arguing that it most likely can be viewed as a 'shared competence', allowing for both the EU and its member states to take decisions, as long as the EU has not exercised its competence.…”