Kassoti: The EU's Duty of Non-Recognition and the Territorial Scope of Trade Agreements Covering Unlawfully Acquired territories

Eva Kassoti (T.M.C. Asser Instituut) has posted The EU's Duty of Non-Recognition and the Territorial Scope of Trade Agreements Covering Unlawfully Acquired territories (Europe and the World: A Law Review, Vol. 3, pp. 1-18, 2019). Here's the abstract:

Recently, the international legality of the EU’s economic activity in unlawfully acquired territories has gained much salience. Claims are increasingly heard that the duty of non-recognition requires the inapplicability of trade agreements to unlawfully acquired territories. In this light, this article attempts a survey of the relevant EU practice by focusing on the case-studies of Palestine and Western Sahara. The main question examined here is whether the EU has acted in breach of its obligation of non-recognition by concluding agreements with third States that extend to unlawfully acquired territories. Overall, this article argues that there is a growing gap between EU identity rhetoric as a promoter of international law and its actual practice on the ground.