European Union Territory from a Legal Perspective: A Commentary on Articles 52 TEU, 355, 349, and 198-204 TFEU

Abstract

Since the founding of the Communities the Treaties have paid very significant attention to the legal articulation of the territorial scope of European law. By the time of the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon the number of Treaty provisions directly dealing with EU territory and establishing different statuses for particular overseas or autonomous regions/countries of the Member States in EU law has grown to ten. The aim of this overview, which has been produced to make part of a much larger Oxford University Press commentary covering all the Treaties in force and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, is to provide a concise analysis of all the ten ‘territory’ provisions in the Treaties and to specify the meaning of all the different statuses in EU law that particular Member State territories can acquire, the substance of EU law associated with each of the statuses in question, as well as to outline the procedures for status change as they stand today. The overview is arranged to present the relevant provisions in the order of generality and importance, rather than chronologically, giving a solid introduction into the current state of the law on EU territory and EU Law of the Overseas.

Keywords: EU territory, EU law, overseas, OR, Ultraperipheral Regions, OCT, ratione loci, territorial scope, eurafrica