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European Communities-exercise of membership rights in the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization-legal effect of agreements between institutions of the Communities-obligation to cooperate
COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES v. COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION. Case C-25/94.
Court of Justice of the European Communities, March 19, 1996. In a procedure under Article 173 of the Treaty Establishing the European Community (Treaty),' the Commission of the European Communities (Commission) asked the Court of Justice of the European Communities (Court or ECJ) to annul a decision of the Council of the European Union (Council) concerning the right to vote on an agreement negotiated within the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The Court held that the decision violated Community law since it did not respect an interinstitutional agreement on the exercise of such membership rights. The case highlights the practical and legal difficulties arising from joint membership of the Community and its member states in an international organization.
In 1991, after prolonged negotiations and amendment of its Constitution, the FAO accepted the European Economic Community as a member while retaining the membership of the Community's member states.2 Apparently, some of the FAO's members feared that disputes between the Community and its member states as to the allocation of competences might impede FAO activities.3 Therefore, it was agreed that the Community would spell out its competences upon accession to the FAO.4 Furthermore, the newly inserted Rule XLI(2) and (3) of the FAO General Rules provided that, before any meeting of the FAO, the member organization or its member states were required to indicate the internal division of competences and which of them would exercise the right to vote.5 This requirement also applied to cases of shared competences; although the member organization and its member states would be allowed to participate in the debate, only the position of the party with the right to vote would have to be taken into consideration in reaching a decision. When the Community votes, it casts the number of votes equal to that of its member states (Article 9(2) of the FAO Constitution). To regulate the internal procedure for deciding on the exercise of membership rights within the FAO (participation in the debate and the right to vote), the Commission and the Council...