The question of recalcitrant member states in the context of the European Union

Abstract

International organizations are about the choices made by its Member States, including the violation of their obligations. There have always been, and there always will be, recalcitrant members of international organizations [hereinafter IOs], namely Member States failing to observe or violating the obligations freely assumed when they joined. Not all IOs have at all times reacted to such infractions and, even if they have reacted, they have not always imposed the measures envisaged in their founding treaties. A principal reason is that IOs often lack the necessary procedures for recording infractions and mechanisms for evaluating them and for responding. Indeed, it should not be taken for granted that all IOs have processes in place to address such infringements.