Joint action
The Joint Action was a legal act of European law until the Treaty of Lisbon .
Insofar as an operational approach by the European Union was necessary within the framework of the common foreign and security policy , the Council of the European Union issued a joint action in accordance with Article 14 of the EU Treaty (as amended by the Treaty of Amsterdam ) . According to the Lisbon Treaty, the Council of the European Union takes a decision on the matter in accordance with Article 28 of the EU Treaty .
Resolutions about operational procedures or joint actions are adopted on the basis of specific situations or individual cases. The Council of the European Union determines the objectives, scope, the means available to the Union and the conditions and, if necessary, the period for their implementation. The legally binding effect of the decisions (or joint actions) for the member states of the EU is laid down in the EU Treaty.
To compensate for the strict legal obligations of the member states, protective or emergency clauses are provided ( Art. 28 Para. 4 and 5 EU Treaty ): The member states can take necessary immediate measures if necessary due to the development of the situation and in the absence of a decision by the Council but on all sides to take into account the general objectives of the action decided and to inform the Council immediately of these measures. The Council may also be referred if major difficulties arise in carrying out the action decided. The Council then looks for appropriate solutions that do not conflict with the action taken or damage its effectiveness.
An example of a joint action is the joint action of the Council of EU Foreign Ministers of June 22, 2000 on the control of technical support in relation to certain military end-uses ( OJ EC No. L 159 of June 30, 2000 (PDF; 75 kB) ).
