The European Union undoubtedly plays an important role in the formation of international law. This takes place through a number of avenues ranging from the simple existence of this supranational legal order within the sphere of international law to the actual influencing of international legal order. With contributions by leading scholars, this collection of essays constructs and analyses a new and stimulating approach in which the European Union is perceived as an active co-creator of the international legal order on a variety of planes. Providing concrete examples of the European Union's approach to the international legal order in different policy fields, this book will be a key reference point for a new active paradigm of EU external relations law.

'The present edited volume is a remarkable and original attempt to study the active role of the Union and its raison d’être, ‘zooming in’ on the international scene, arguably in return of the process of European integration to its roots in international relations … What is even more revolutionary about the book is the conclusion drawn by the editors that the Union’s role of co-shaper of the international legal order is a ‘conscious choice’, as opposed to an ‘unexpected side-effect of the Union’s engagement with the international legal order’ and that the EU has been ‘refining’ and ‘intensifying’ its involvement with the international legal order.'

Stéphanie Laulhé Shaelou Source: Yearbook of European Law