Recital (6)

With a view to ensuring closer Union-wide coordination and increasing leverage and cooperation in dialogues with third countries Member States should be able to apply the concept of safe third country to applicants under agreements or arrangements to which the Union, one or more of its Member States or one or more Member States and third countries, on the one hand, and a safe third country, on the other hand, are parties. In the interest of effectiveness and avoiding incompatibilities, as the subject matter of agreements falling within the scope of this Regulation may fall within the shared competence of the Union and of the Member States, the Commission and the Member States should cooperate closely when concluding such agreements, with a view to ensuring unity in the international representation of the Union and its Member States. In particular, in addition to, and without prejudice to, the procedure set out in Article 218 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the Commission should, during the negotiations of an agreement with a third country (Union-level agreement), take due account of any existing bilateral or multilateral agreements between a Member State and the same third country and take due account of the consequences of the Union-level agreement for those bilateral or multilateral agreements and for the cooperation and overall relations of the Member State with that third country in the field of migration, including as regards the political and economic matters at stake.