Bilateral Investment Treaties on the Ups and Downs of the Conclusion and the Validity in European Union

The specificity of the rules governing the European Union and the foreign competence of the Union to conclude the international treaties has led to the two independent legal systems regarding bilateral investment treaties between the member states of the Union and third countries; a regime based on the domestic law in the framework of international law and the EU-based regime. The conflict between the competence of the Union and its member states to conclude bilateral investment treaties, creates ambiguities which can effect to the validity of these treaties. Also the assumption of the supremacy of Union rules with the effect on the validity of bilateral treaties between member states and third countries, drew the assumption of the violation of international law and the international responsibility of the Union and the member states. Although some rules of Union Law contain approaches in this regard, there are still challenges in the concluding and the validity of these treaties at the Union level, which could be a sign of instability and unsaifty, as the main components in the attracting foreign investment in EU. In this paper, we are going to examine the challenges and their legal approaches at the EU level.