Opinion procedure 2/15

47.By application dated 10 July 2015, the Commission requested, pursuant to Article 218(11) TFEU, an Opinion from the Court on the following question:

‘Does the Union have the requisite competence to sign and conclude alone [the EUSFTA]? More specifically,

–which provisions of the agreement fall within the Union’s exclusive competence?;

–which provisions of the agreement fall within the Union’s shared competence?; and

–is there any provision of the agreement that falls within the exclusive competence of the Member States?’

48.Written observations on the Commission’s request have been submitted by the Council, the Parliament and the Governments of all Member States apart from Belgium, Croatia, Estonia and Sweden. A hearing was held on 12 and 13 September 2016, at which the Commission, the Council, the Parliament, and the Austrian, Belgian, Czech, Danish, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Irish, Italian, Lithuanian, Netherlands, Polish, Romanian, Slovenian and Spanish Governments participated.