L'adozione da parte di un'organizzazione internazionale della condotta dei suoi stati membri. il caso dell'assistenza militare fornita dall'Unione europea all'Ucraina

The decision of the Council of the European Union to provide military assistance to Ukraine in order to repel the Russian aggression raises a number of questions. Among others, one may wonder whether, according to the criteria established by international law, the action of supporting the Ukrainian armed forces is to be attributed to the European Union or to the States, which materially transfer military equipment. The most promising candidate is the recognition and adoption of a conduct, criterion established by Art. 11 of the Draft Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts and Art. 9 of the Draft Articles on the Responsibility of International Organizations. However, it is controversial that an international organization is empowered to adopt unilaterally a conduct of its Member States, which are full-fledged subjects of international law, and by so doing to take on the responsibility engendered by that conduct vis-à-vis third States. In such circumstances, the general principle of consent would entail that the transfer of responsibility is conditional upon the acceptance of these third parties. In that specific context, this condition seems to have been fulfilled: the Russian Federation could have accepted the attribution to the European Union of the military assistance to Ukraine.