The EU strategy of policy convergence with its neighbours in the area of trade

The objective of this paper is to ascertain whether the EU is seeking policy convergence with its neighbours in the area of trade by means of EU regulations. For each trade- related topic, we carried out a content analysis of the available official documents to identify the model of relations that has been established between the EU and four neighbouring countries (Morocco, Algeria, Ukraine and Georgia). The findings indicate that Europeanization is the EU strategy in most cases. However, adaptation to European regulations is only a long-term aim. When international regulations exist in a specific area, the EU usually demands the internationalization of a countrys regulations as a first step. When there are no international regulations, the convergence process is established on the basis of bilaterally developed norms. EU strategy also varies depending on the country. Its relations with Algeria are the most particular. We conclude that the EU is promoting policy convergence with its neighbours in the area of trade mainly on the basis of international and bilaterally-developed regulations.normative power, eu neighbourhood policy, europeanization, eu trade relations

Lectura de la política comercial de la UE desde una perspectiva multilateral

Este artículo analiza si el cambio en la estrategia comercial de la UE en el siglo XXI hacia el bilateralismo está en contradicción con su objetivo de fomentar un multilateralismo eficaz. Pone de manifiesto que la emergencia de nuevos poderes en el ámbito del comercio ha producido una ruptura en la estructura histórica del comercio internacional que está poniendo en peligro la capacidad de la Organización Mundial del Comercio para conseguir su misión de liberalización comercial.En este marco, el bilateralismo de la UE puede leerse de forma diferente en función de cómo se interprete la disposición de la UE hacia los BIC (Brasil, India, China) como nuevos poderes en el ámbito del comercio. Si su disposición es acomodaticia, su bilateralismo puede leerse en clave multilateralista

Efficient bilateralism? The TTIP from an EU Trade Policy perspective

The EU bilateral trade strategy since 2006, including the TTIP, has been justified by the European Commission on the bases that deep and comprehensive trade agreements are compatible with efficient multilateralism. The Commission argument is the following: in a context marked by international supply-chains, preferential agreements that allow for progress on what has been achieved at the multilateral level (topics WTO +) and in areas not already covered by the WTO (items WTO- X) may be considered as a stepping stone, not a stumbling block for multilateral liberalization. In other words, EU recent bilateral negotiations and agreements should be seen at worst as complementary to multilateral negotiations and at best as promoters. This paper challenges this argument by pointing out that there has been a change in EU actions in the Doha Round since 2009 that may signal a change in the nature of its bilateral strategy. Content analysis of a primary source of information - the Bridges Weekly reports - shows that though the EU did not preclude the inclusion of new actors in the high table of negotiations at any time and was in favour of the Bali agreement of 2013, its willingness to make concessions reached a plateau in 2008. As complementarity between bilateralism and multilateralism may be influenced by the degree of progress at multilateral level negotiations, this shift from concessions to a stagnant position in the Doha Round may be indicative of a change in the nature of EU bilateral strategy. Indeed, from 2006 until 2009 the EU sought bilateral partners among new important trade players (India, ASEAN and South Korea). Since then, the EU has focused on reaching agreements with the old Quad members (Canada, Japan and the USA). Assuming that the EU is not playing a double game and therefore there is a consistency between its actions at the multilateral and bilateral levels, its bilateral agreements may have gone from being a complement to being a replacement of multilateralism. We conclude that the TTIP may be read, at least in the short time, as an example of efficient bilateralism

Efficient multilateralism or bilateralism? The TTIP from an EU Trade Policy perspective

The EU bilateral trade strategy since 2006, including the TTIP, has been justified by the European Commission on the bases that deep and comprehensive trade agreements are compatible with efficient multilateralism. The Commission argument is the following: in a context marked by International supply-chains, preferential agreements that allow for progress on what has been achieved at the multilateral level (topics WTO +) and in areas not already covered by the WTO (items WTO- X) may be considered as a stepping stone, not a stumbling block for multilateral liberalization. In other words, EU recent bilateral negotiations and agreements should be seen at worst as complementary to multilateral negotiations and at best as promoters

Lectura de la política comercial de la UE desde una perspectiva multilateral

This article analyses whether the shift in EU trade strategy in the 21st century towards bilateralism is in conflict with its objective of promoting effective multilateralism. It demonstrates that the emergence of new powers in the trade sphere has produced a breach in the historical structure of international trade that puts the World Trade Organization's capacity to achieve its mission of trade liberalisation at risk. Within this framework, EU bilateralism may be read differently depending on how the EU's attitude to the BIC (Brazil, India, China) as new powers in the field of trade is interpreted. If it tends towards accommodation, its bilateralism may be read in a multilateralist light

La gobernanza económica de la Zona Euro

[spa] La Unión Europea se encuentra actualmente inmersa en un proceso de cambio de su sistema de gobernanza económica. Este artículo analiza por qué los Estados miembros están siendo capaces de cooperar en temas que en los años 1990s eran tabú en la arena comunitaria. En base a una metodología cualitativa y un marco teórico nutrido por los enfoques neofuncionalista e intergubernamental, concluimos que los acuerdos sobre gobernanza económica a los que se está llegando en la actualidad responden más a la necesidad que a la voluntad de hacer avanzar la integración.[eng] The EU’s system of economic governance is currently undergoing significant change. This article analyses why member states are able to work together in areas in which, in the 1990s, cooperation would have been impossible. Applying a qualitative methodology and a theoretical framework based on neofunctionalist and intergovernmental approaches, we conclude that the agreements on economic governance that are being reached today respond more to the need than to the will to advance towards integration

The determinants of CAP reform: learning from the European financial crisis and CAP 2013

There is an ongoing debate on which are the determinants of CAP reform. The economic environment has not been contemplated as a direct determinant of CAP reform but its proxy, the budget, has not only been looked at as such but underlined as a key cause of CAP reform. This paper argues, however, that the budget does not affect the modus operandi of the CAP. It affects the quantity of support each farmer is going to get and sometimes even the timing of the reform, but not the form it is going to receive it. Other CAP determinants and international negotiations in particular, have an impact on the substance of CAP reform. This hypothesis is not contradicted by an analysis of CAP 2013 changes

The European Union trade relations with its neighbors: europeanization, internationalization or coordination?

La política de Vecindad de la Unión Europea se acostumbra a interpretar como un instrumento de europeización forzada. Gracias a su fuerza de negociación, la Unión Europea impondría a sus vecinos su modelo económico y hasta político y social. Esta sin embargo no es la evidencia que se obtiene en el ámbito del comercio. En consonancia con el modelo teórico de relaciones exteriores desarrollado por varios investigadores bajo la dirección de Esther Barbé, observamos como, en el ámbito comercial, el modelo de relaciones entre la Unión Europea y cuatro países de la política de Vecindad puede ser tanto de europeización como también de internacionalización o de coordinación. El tipo de modelo aplicado viene condicionado, como asevera el marco teórico, por el cumplimiento de las condiciones necesarias que se requieren para que Europa imponga sus normas: legitimidad, incentivos y coherencia interna. Estas condiciones varían en función tanto del tema tratado como del país vecino.___________________________________________________Most of the literature on the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) has assumed that it is an instrument directed at Europeanising neighbours. Through this policy, the EU would be encouraging its neighbour countries to adopt an EU-specific economic, and even social and political, model. This is not, however, the evidence one obtains analysing the EU commercial relations with four of its neighbours. Our research indicates that the convergence processes between the EU and those countries have rather been established on the basis of three different standards: international, bilateral and EU. It further highlights that the pattern of policy convergence is the result of the interplay between the EU and neighbouring countries shaped by interests, legitimacy and coherence. These results support recent research by Barbé et ál. on the ENP