In this interview, Pieter Jan Kuijper, former member of the European Commission’s Legal Service mainly engaged with matters of international (trade) law, first reflects upon his arrival at the Commission via the concours and upon the nature of his engagement with European integration and European law. Consequently, the following topics are addressed:
- the competences of the EC/EU regarding trade policy (Common commercial policy)/ international investment;
- extraterritorial application of competition law;
- the participation of the EC/EU as a party in international conventions;
- the position of the EC/EU in international relations in more general terms;
- the role of the EC/EU in the GATT /WTO (e.g. panels on public procurement / oil seeds / bananas / hormones / Airbus, Uruguay round negotiations);
- the internal functioning of the Legal Service;
- collaboration with the DG’s (Agriculture, Competition), the Council (e.g. CoJur) and European Parliament;
- the Task force on the German reunification / integration of the former GDR led by Carlo Trojan;
- court cases concerning the free movement of Turkish workers and their social security with respect to the association agreement with Turkey;
- the ‘Amsterdamization’ of Justice and Home Affairs, in particular the redrafting of draft conventions into community law
- the voting procedure in the Council;
- the Constitutional Convention and the Charter of human rights;
- the Directors-General of the Legal Service (Ehlermann, Dewost, Petite) and its expansion in the 2000s;
- the Delors Commissions and cabinet, in comparison with the Santer Commission;
- the refurbishment of the Berlaymont.