the ECJ asserted that, under international law, the EU is precluded by its very nature from being considered a State. While such a clear statement may come as a relief to those who fear the growth of the EU into a superstate, what follows in the Opinion amounts to a robust declaration of the autonomy of EU law, which has some troubling consequences, and ultimately led the ECJ to find the draft agreement incompatible with EU law. The Court structured the remainder of its arguments under the following headings:
Preclude