73 research outputs found
Humanitarian aid as an integral part of the European Union's external action: the challenge of reconciling coherence and independence
The article focuses on the European Union's (EU) humanitarian aid policy. It addresses the challenge for the EU to deliver independent humanitarian aid while simultaneously seeking to establish more coherence between its external policies. The article examines how the EU tries to reconcile these potentially conflicting policy goals, both de jure and in practice. Empirically, it explores the interaction between EU humanitarian aid and development cooperation, the Common Foreign and Security Policy, and trade policy. While the independence of the humanitarian aid delivery is, for the most part, not being undermined, it remains difficult to establish positive synergies with other external policies because of institutional hurdles and legal constraints, as well as political obstacles and operational incompatibilities
Report drawn up on behalf of the Committee on Relations with African States and Madagascar on the results of the fifth meeting of the Parliamentary Conference of the EEC-AAMS Association held in Antananarivo from 10 to 15 January 1969. Working Documents 1968-1969, Document 228, 7 March 1969
External trade policy and the Sustainable Development Goals: implementing the SDGs will meet justified criticisms of globalisation
In 2015 the international community adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to "end all forms of poverty, fight inequalities and tackle climate change, while ensuring that no one is left behind". Trade can contribute to meeting those goals, but only if the policies are adapted accordingly. Given that they largely build on existing international commitments, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are not demanding revolutionary change. But it is an important step forward that the Agenda lays out a comprehensive programme for all policy areas, indicating what would be required to achieve sustainability at all levels. Especially in developed countries, there is widespread criticism that trade policy and globalisation worsen inequalities within and between states, endanger ecological stability and social security, and perpetuate unsustainable patterns of consumption. Implementing the SDGs would also represent a constructive response to these justified criticisms of globalisation. (author's abstract
Beyond Foreign Policy? EU Sanctions at the Intersection of Development, Trade, and CFSP
In the wake of unsettling conflicts and democratic backsliding, states and organisations increasingly respond with sanctions. The European Union (EU) is one of them: Brussels makes use of the entire toolbox in its foreign policy, and its sanctions appear in different forms - diplomatic measures, travel bans, financial bans, or various forms of economic restrictions. Yet, there is little debate between different strands in the literature on EU sanctions, in particular concerning measures under the Common Foreign and Security Policy and those pertaining to the development and trade policy fields. Our thematic issue addresses this research gap by assembling a collection of articles investigating the design, impact, and implementation of EU sanctions used in different realms of its external affairs. Expanding the definition of EU sanctions to measures produced under different guises in the development, trade, and foreign policy fields, the collection overcomes the compartmentalised approach characterising EU scholarship
Do unilateral trade preferences help export diversification? An investigation of the impact of European unilateral trade preferences on the extensive and intensive margin of trade.
We analyze the impact of the EU unilateral trade preferences on both the intensive and the extensive margin of trade. Using a tobit and probit estimation we find that the impact of unilateral trade preferences on both margins is strictly linked to the sector under analysis and to the type of preferences a country benefits from. In particular, we find an anti-diversification effect along with a concentration of exports in agricultural products in the case of more stable preferential schemes, as represented by the African Caribbean and Pacific trade preferences. We also confirm that the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) for least developing countries did not change the beneficiaries' export pattern, while the traditional GSP and the regime to combat drug production tend to promote diversification of exports.Extensive margin, Melitz model, Generalized System of Preference.
The Structure of Neo-Colonialism: The Case of the Irish Republic
A common characteristic of studies of development
emanating from advanced capitalist countries is
the use of descriptive rather than structural categorisations. A celebrated example from the discipline of economics
is Rostow's schema whereby individual countries
are placed in one of five supposedly sequential
"stages of economic growth" depending on the presence
or absence of certain characteristics. According
to this formulation, there is no basic distinction between
"developed" and "underdeveloped" countries.
Instead, there exists a "continuum" of development
;anging from "least" to "most" developed
The prospects for the EU-Ukraine free trade agreement. OSW Commentary No. 94, 2012-10-15
The European Union and Ukraine initialled the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area
Agreement (DCFTA) on 19 July 2012. The scope of the agreement which the EU and Ukraine
reached following their negotiations is much more extensive than that of a typical free trade
agreement. It envisages not only the lifting of tariff and extra-tariff barriers but also, more
importantly, Kyiv adopting EU legal solutions and standards in this area.
Whether the agreement will be signed and implemented is still an open question and depends
on the existing political conditions. On the one hand, the repression imposed by the government
in Kyiv on its political opponents (including the detention of the former prime minister,
Yulia Tymoshenko) has provoked criticism from the EU, which refuses to sign the agreement
if the government in Kyiv continues to violate democratic principles. The manner in which
Ukraineâs parliamentary elections are conducted this October will be the key test. On the
other hand, Russia is increasingly active in its efforts to involve Ukraine in the integration projects
it has initiated (the Customs Union and the Eurasian Economic Community). It should be
noted that Moscow has effective instruments to exert its will, such as the dependence of the
Ukrainian economy on supplies of Russian oil and gas and on exports to the Russian market.
Besides, Moscow also has political instruments at its disposal.
It is impossible to participate in integration projects both with the EU and with Russia.
Therefore, Kyiv will have to make a strategic decision and choose the direction of its economic
integration. Unless Ukraine takes concrete action to implement its agreements with the EU,
primarily including the free trade agreement, its economic dependence on Russia will grow,
and it will be more likely to join the Russian integration projects
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