EU preferential trade agreements : commerce, foreign policy and development aspects

Abstract

This e-book compiles the written contributions prepared by the speakers of an EUI conference titled ‘Global Europe: The New Generation of EU Preferential Trade Agreements’. The conference took place on May 14-15, 2012, on the EUI premises in San Domenico di Fiesole. It was organized by the EUI Working Group on EU External Relations Law, under the auspices of Professor Marise Cremona and Professor Petros Mavroidis, with generous support provided by the EUI’s Global Governance Programme and the Academy of European Law. The e-book is divided into four parts. In the introductory part, David Kleimann provides a perspective on the European Commission’s efforts to implement the ‘Global Europe’ strategy and outlines the domestic and external challenges that EU leaders face in this process. Part II is devoted to crosscutting issues that generally apply to contemporary PTAs. Against the background of the most recent wave of regional and inter-regional economic integration, Petros Mavroidis argues that the relevance of the WTO for international trade liberalization and rule making is fading. Patrick Messerlin, secondly, considers the various domestic motives for the negotiation of PTAs and identifies the actors that play important roles in the political economy processes associated with the negotiation and conclusion of PTAs. Jean-Pierre Chauffour and David Kleimann, third, examine key economic, institutional, and policy challenges that arise in the course of PTA implementation processes in developing countries and derive a number of recommendations that aim at more effective and development oriented PTA implementation. Part III then turns to several of topics that shed light on specific aspects of EU PTA negotiations and their domestic ratification. For starters, Adrian van den Hoven contends that the EU is now moving toward a PTA negotiation approach that is more than ever geared towards the achievement of reciprocity of mutual commitments with partner countries. Maria Joao Podgorny, secondly, reflects on the role of the European Parliament in the area of EU trade and investment policy and provides a perspective on the process of inter-institutional cooperation between Parliament, the European Commission, and the Council with regard to the ratification of EU PTAs. Elisabeth Roderburg, third, argues the case for deep transatlantic economic integration between the EU and the United States. Jakob Cornides, fourth, explains how and why the European Commission seeks to export EU intellectual property protection standards to third countries through plurilateral and bilateral trade agreements. In Part IV of this e-book, four authors devote particular attention to the question of how the European Union seeks to achieve non-commercial objectives through the negotiation of PTAs. Isabelle Ramdoo and Sanoussi Bilal provide a critical reflection on the EU’s approach to the negotiation of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) with African countries and assess the merits of this endeavour for the promotion of economic development and regional integration in Africa. Lorand Bartels, secondly, examines how the EU, by means of ‘human rights clauses’ and sustainable development chapters in its PTAs, implements its obligation to ensure that its external activities respect human rights and pursue the objective of promoting sustainable development. In a related contribution, Fabiano de Andrade Correa considers the extent to which EU trade agreements have increasingly included procedural and substantive sustainable development provisions in its PTAs.