bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Imagining Europe: Internal and External Non-State Actors at the European Crossroads
Authors: Doerr Nicole , Andretta Massimiliano
Published: April 2022

This article studies the construction of ideals and images associated with Europe and the European Union by non-state actors (social movements, trade unions and NGOs) based outside Europe. First, we analyse the external image of Europe and the EU through the content analysis of meaning attributed to the EU and EU politics on the homepages of non-EU NGOs, trade unions and social movements within the global justice movements. Secondly, we study the perspective of non-Western European activists within the European Social Forum process as a transnational forum ‘from below’ for ‘another’ Europe. The European Union seen from outside is an ambivalent powerful political community with both a hegemonic but also a socially transformative and democratic aspiration. While internal EU organizations and groups claim the internal democratization of Europe, activists based outside the EU see it as an important external ally for the implementation of human rights and democratization (or gender equality), though they are very critical on materialistic issues, such as trade relationships.
From Apology to Utopia: EU–ECP Economic Partnership Agreements Oscillating between WTO Conformity and Sustainability
Authors: Thallinger Gerhard
Published: April 2022

This contribution assesses the future Economic Partnership Agreements between African, Caribbean and Pacific countries and the EU and its Member States in the light of their questionable WTO conformity and their goal to promote sustainable development. After a brief outline of the legal framework and political background of the Economic Partnership Agreements, the article depicts their objectives as provided for in the Cotonou Agreement. Thereafter, the criteria for their conformity with Article XXIV GATT as well as the conceivable repercussions of a WTO-compatible design on the achievement of sustainable development are analysed. It will thereby be argued that, against the backdrop of the current uncertainty and the need for clarification of the requirements for North–South regional trade agreements under Article XXIV GATT, WTO-compatible Economic Partnership Agreements calling for a restrictive design of flexibility and asymmetry threaten to subvert the Cotonou Agreement’s aim that they shall foster sustainable development and contribute to poverty alleviation. Hence, solutions to mitigate this inherent tension between WTO conformity and sustainability will finally be pointed out.
Conflicts Between the Disciplines of EC State Aids and WTO Subsidies: Of Books, Ships and Aircraft
Authors: Luengo Hernández De Madrid Gustavo E.
Published: April 2022

Abstract. This article examines the differences between the regulation of state aids in the EC and subsidies in the WTO, which create conflicts between the two systems. In particular, the sources of conflicts between the EC state aid rules and the WTO rules on subsidies are found, on the one hand, in the different scope of both regulations (i.e. the different definitions of ‘state aid’ and ‘subsidy’) and, on the other hand, in the different objectives that they pursue, as a result of which the EC authorizes state aids that constitute prohibited subsidies according to Article 3 of the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (ASCM) or subsidies that can be actionable if they negatively affect the interests of another WTO Member, according to Article 5 of the ASCM. The negative consequences that these conflicts imply for the EC and its Member States from the international perspective will also be addressed.
Exporting the Acquis Communautaire into the Legal Systems of Third Countries
Authors: Petrov Roman
Published: April 2022

Abstract. This article explores the role of the EU as a global actor in international relations and a promoter of its own standards and values abroad. In particular, this article studies selected substantive and procedural means of exporting the acquis communautaire into the legal systems of third countries. It is argued that the substantive means refer to the fundamental ways of implementing the acquis into third country legal orders. The procedural means relate to specific technical/procedural tools which either directly or indirectly encourage the implementation of the acquis into third country legal orders. The article concludes that these substantive and procedural means are not uniformly applicable, but are rather exercised in accordance with the specific objectives of EU external agreements. Analysis of the selected EU external agreements illustrates that their objectives unquestionably constitute a driving force behind understanding the role and mechanism of the substantive and procedural means of exporting the acquis communautaire.
EU–Russia Relations Through the Prism of the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument
Authors: Blockmans Steven
Published: April 2022

The joint ownership principle on which EU–Russia relations are based has been put to the test by divergences over recent political and economic developments and the adoption of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). While Russia has excluded itself from the ENP, the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI), the ENP’s main financial instrument, extends its coverage to the Russian Federation. This article argues that, with the adoption of the ENPI, the EU has reintroduced a form of conditionality that undermines the main principle on which the EU–Russia partnership is built. Even if cooperation in the shared neighbourhood, for instance through cross–border projects funded under the ENPI, could be improved, it is by no means certain that such an example could be replicated when it comes to consolidating democracy, promoting human rights and creating development in Russia.
Towards a Common, Restrictive EU Arms Export Policy? The Impact of the EU Code of Conduct on Major Conventional Arms Exports
Authors: Brzoska Michael , Bromley Mark
Published: April 2022

In recent years there has been a concerted attempt to harmonize European policies on arms exports. Of particular importance is the EU Code of Conduct on Arms Exports, which lays out standard criteria for assessing applications for arms export licences. This process has been interpreted as the ‘Europeanization’ of EU arms export policies, understood as the process whereby key areas of national decision–making become increasingly subject to systems of multilevel governance. By analysing quantitative arms export data, this article assesses the impact that this process of Europeanization has had on the arms exports of EU Member States, that is, the extent to which it has created more harmonized and/or more restrictive arms export policies. The article finds that while certain of the normative values promoted by the EU Code are having an impact on Member State arms export policies, others are not. Meanwhile, there is little evidence of harmonization of arms export policies among Member States. This raises questions about the extent to which processes of Europeanization can be expected to impact on Member State behaviour in key areas of foreign and security policy and about the ability of the EU to act as a normative power.
EU External Policy–Making and The Case of Morocco: ‘Realistically’ Dealing with Authoritarianism?
Authors: Gomez Arana Arantza , Cavatorta Francesco , Chari Raj S. , Kritzinger Sylvia
Published: April 2022

The literature on the external relations of the EU often emphasises the normative nature of the Union’s policies. It follows that specific policy initiatives such as the Euro–Mediterranean Partnership (EMP) are then assessed according to normative parameters. This paper challenges this assumption and argues that a realist interpretation of the Union–s external policies contributes to a better understanding of what the EU does abroad. In order to substantiate such theoretical claims, the paper analyses in detail the EU’s relations with the authoritarian state of Morocco and highlights how realist concerns dominate the Union’s preoccupations to the detriment of the normative values it espouses on paper. The paper concludes by arguing that if a different theoretical framework from the mainstream normative one is used to assess the Union’s policies, the outcome of this assessment changes quite radically. In the case of EMP, for instance, we claim that the Union has been rather successful in pursuing its material, realist interests. This has important implications for how the EU will operate when more integration on foreign policy matters occurs.
On Carrots and Sticks: The Social Dimension of EU Trade Policy
Authors: Vandenberghe Jan
Published: April 2022

This article assesses the social dimension of EU trade policy. First, the essence of the ‘trade and labour debate’ is recalled. Then, the EU’s practice of promoting decent work conditions through unilateral (GSP), bilateral or regional trade instruments is explored. EU support for corporate social responsibility is touched upon briefly. It is demonstrated that the EU essentially relies on its GSP to pursue objectives of decent work, whereas the social provisions of EU preferential agreements seem to be included as objectives to be achieved rather than as legal commitments to be enforced.
Towards An EU Military Ethos
Authors: Koivula Tommi
Published: April 2022

Abstract. Since the late 1990s, we have witnessed a substantial expansion in the European Union’s crisis management efforts. Less attention, however, has been given to the way in which the involvement in EU crisis management affects the roles and missions of the participating soldiers. This article seeks to address this issue by proposing that as a consequence of the increased crisis management efforts, a specific military ethos is about to emerge in the EU. The ethos can be characterized with three cornerstone commands: ‘Pretend to be warlike but don’t fight’; ‘Master civilian skills’; and ‘Redefine your patriotism’. It will be suggested that, its added value in crisis management notwithstanding, the emerging military ethos does not address the initial aims of the ESDP. Rather, it constitutes a strategic handicap to the Union’s external capabilities.
The EU’s ‘External Governance’ and Legislative Approximation by Neighbours: Challenges for the Classic Constitutional Templates
Authors: Albi Anneli
Published: April 2022

Abstract. In the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy, the EU’s enlargement conditionality and pre-accession methodology have largely been extended to the new neighbours, with the rule transfer having been characterized as part of the EU’s ‘external governance’. The absence of accession prospects for these countries at the present stage makes this an intriguing case; the paper consequently seeks to explore the extent to which the EU rules are transferred, with a special focus on Ukraine. The analysis leads to an inquiry into an issue that has been largely missing in the voluminous literature on EU conditionality: the legitimacy of the approximation process from the national constitutional perspective. The paper contends that voluntary approximation of national legislation to external rules presents a novel challenge to the classic constitutional models that have emerged to accommodate international and EU rules within sovereign legal orders, and hence a search for new solutions is warranted.
The Small Arms Judgment in an Age of Constitutional Turmoil
Authors: Van Vooren Bart
Published: April 2022

Abstract. On 20 May 2008, the Court of Justice handed down its long-awaited judgment in the Small Arms case (C-91/05). In a previous contribution in this review I have argued that from the perspective of the current post-Nice Treaty framework, the ECJ has rendered a judgment that is neither legally coherent nor conducive to dynamism in foreign policy conduct. It was concluded that the ECJ’s bifurcated treatment of the two CFSP instruments at issue has failed to settle the dust that had been stirred up by this cross-pillar conflict. In this article it is argued that the Lisbon Treaty would rectify this situation by obsoleting the Court’s interpretation of Article 47 TEU, and putting in place the legal equality of the Union’s CFSP and its other external policies. This would erase the Court’s hierarchical approach to the ‘non-affectation clause’, but maintain the Grand Chamber’s construction that was arguably more conducive to finding the legal equilibrium between the CFSP and other EU external action such as development, while maintaining sufficient flexibility in formulating external policy.
The Distinct Politics of the European Union’s ‘Fair Trade’ Linkage to Labour Standards
Authors: Burgoon Brian
Published: April 2022

European Union (EU) social actors, governments and EU level representatives have been divided over fair trade linkage, where trade access is made conditional upon protection of labour standards. This division is partly an artefact of sharp disagreement and confusion over the nature of such linkage: supporters usually defend fair trade linkage as humanizing rather than shutting-down globalization, while opponents construe such linkage as a back door to protectionism or worry that other countries will construe linkage as such. This article analyses whether and in what ways EU fair trade protection has a politics distinct from those of general EU trade protection. The focus is on public opinion data in fifteen EU Member States that allows comparing citizen support for EU fair trade protection with that for EU trade protection generally. Judging from both aggregate national comparisons and individual level information in these data, EU fair trade linkage tends to receive generally more support than general trade protection, likely due to the former’s explicit appeal to broad standards of fairness. And the political basis of this support appears to lie not only in economic insecurities associated with skill and income but also in left-oriented ideological commitments to social rights of workers and to government interventions to protect such rights. These differences have important implications for the fortunes of fair trade linkage and for the broader politics of how Europe navigates globalization.
EU Foreign Policy Cooperation: A Challenge for National Parliaments?
Authors: Zanon Flavia
Published: April 2022

Abstract. European cooperation in the foreign policy domain is changing decision making in a broad number of issues. The analysis of the action taken by two legislatures – the British and the Italian Parliaments – as regards two foreign policy initiatives – the EU/E3 negotiations with Iran and the debate over lifting the European Union (EU) arms embargo against China – provides important insights on the strategies adopted by national legislatures to deal with cooperation in this field. The analysis confirms that a democratic deficit exists at the national level; yet, it highlights that scrutiny performance is undermined not only by a lack of information from national governments and expertise on EU procedures but also by new political dynamics generated by the growing intergovernmental cooperation. In particular, the long chains of delegation and the accountability dilemma generated by the multilevel system of governance undermine both the capacity and willingness of parliaments to perform an adequate oversight. Parliaments wanting to reaffirm their role and the principle of EU democratic legitimacy at the national level need to recognize these limits and to loosen their traditional images as repositories of the sovereignty of single and separated nation-states.
Is Europe a Risk Averse Actor?
Authors: Laïdi Zaki
Published: April 2022

This article makes the hypothesis that the European Union (EU) is a political actor whose identity and strategy on the international field are based on a strong aversion towards risk. In order to follow this hypothesis, we will define the exact meaning of a Risk Averse Power (RAP). Roughly speaking, an RAP can be defined as an international actor that defines and responds to the political stakes of a given identified risk in terms of a will to reduce its uncertainties and uncontrollable effects. Then, in the absence of any existing composite index, we propose five criteria for measuring this risk aversion: job loss risk, biotechnology risks, climate change risk, financial risks, and risk of war. In the next section, we attempt to explain why Europe is risk averse, through various factors: Europe’s non-state construction, the existence of a deliberative European political space, Europe’s social model aiming towards market risk minimization, and, finally, the end of the need for an Empire. Finally, we determine the broader implications of risk aversion for Europe as a global actor.
Normative and Technical Power at the EU-Moroccan Interface: The Islamization of the North as a Response to the Democratization of the South
Authors: Volpi Frédéric
Published: April 2022

Normative drives and ‘soft’ economic and technical power at the interface between Morocco and the European Union (EU) produce a flexible post-normative context in which substantive views of the ‘good’ are recomposed in function of more practical notions of the ‘useful’. Plural, decentred, and technical modes of power construction and projection become the norm. Damagingly for the EU, the European normative drive is not deployed in coordination with practical projects of socio-economic development. In practice, such EU initiatives are not only entrenching some of the authoritarian tendencies of the Moroccan monarchy but they also fail to engage Islamist actors at the institutional and civil society levels. At the same time, Moroccan state and non-state actors have realized that the normative and technical tools of regional community building used by the EU are a double-edged sword. Europe’s current lack of normative and technical means to address the interaction between politics and religion in relation to Islam facilitates the externalization of the normative and technical power of Moroccan actors. Their activities can be seen as another form of regional community building by southern actors using the normative and technical resources that the EU lacks in the religious field.
The Emerging Peace and Security Regime in Africa: The Role of the EU
Authors: Brosig Malte
Published: April 2022

This article focuses on the role the European Union (EU) is playing in peacekeeping and conflict prevention in Africa. In this article, it is argued that the EU’s peacekeeping approach is not only shaped by the interests of European Member States or EU institutions to deploy and maintain peacekeepers but is responsive to an emerging African peace and security regime. The majority of peacekeeping operations on the continent build upon some kind of inter-organizational arrangements between the United Nations (UN), the EU, and the African Union (AU) or in some cases other regional African organizations. This article will show how the existing forms of inter-organizational interaction between international organizations (IOs) in Africa impact on the EU’s engagement in peace operations in the continent. This article demonstrates the EU’s role in the multi-actor game of peacekeeping in Africa and how the EU’s involvement in these emerging international cooperation structures influences its peacekeeping strategy for Africa.
Speaking with One Voice: Statements and Declarations as an Instrument of the EUs Common Foreign and Security Policy
Authors: Voncina Tina
Published: April 2022

Speaking with one voice can be considered the centre of the European Union's (EU's) aspirations for a more visible role as a global actor, including the development of numerous ways for expressing this voice within the realm of the international community. To the wider public, the most visible and accessible instruments are the declarations and presidency statements, which are somehow not sufficiently dealt with in contemporary scientific work. This article deals with the various types of declarations in use before the Lisbon Treaty and analyses the declarations published between January 2005 and the end of June 2009. The findings point to the possible use of such tools from two points of view: from the EU perspective and from academics' attempts to explain the role of the EU in the international community.
The External Legitimacy of the EU in the South Caucasus
Authors: Vasilyan Syuzanna
Published: April 2022

This article delves into the external legitimacy of the European Union (EU) in the South Caucasus by analysing the perceptions of the EU's image and role as held by the Armenian, Azeri, and Georgian governments, the public, and political parties. It tests the academic claims regarding the EU's 'difference' by scrutinizing key official documents, drawing on surveys, and relying on in-depth semi-structured interviews. Consequently, it reveals the variations among the three South Caucasian states in terms of their current and potential future visions of the EU. By showing that the Union is seen as comparable to others, like the United States and Russia or intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Council of Europe (CoE), and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), this article ponders on the potential future perception of the Union provided the needs, interests, demands, and aspirations of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Most importantly, it probes into the proportionality of the EU's policy in the South Caucasus, ponders on its ramifications as a result of the boost in its external relations foreseen by the Lisbon Treaty, and offers policy advice for the Union to meet the expectations of its 'neighbours'.
Negotiating Services with ASEAN: The EU between the WTO and Japan
Authors: Robles Jr Alfredo C.
Published: April 2022

In future Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations between the EU and individual Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members, trade in services will feature prominently. Such negotiations will be constrained by the network of ASEAN's bilateral Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with Japan, because the EPAs' approach differs from the EU approach at the World Trade Organization's Doha Round in two ways. First, Japan adopted the approach to services trade liberalization favoured by ASEAN. Second, Japan accepted ASEAN's regulations in the services sectors that they liberalized and allowed the movement of certain categories of natural persons to Japan. In return, ASEAN countries opened a large number of services sectors to Japanese investment.
The Impact of Chinas Rise on the EUs Geopolitical Reach and Interests in Africa
Authors: Katharina Stahl Anna
Published: April 2022

The African continent has traditionally been considered as Europe's 'backyard' or 'pré-carré'. Yet, percepetions of Africa are gradually changing, with emerging powers such as China increasing their engagement on the continent. From this arises the fundamental question of how the European Union's (EU) position as an established actor in Africa is affected by the rise of China. While it has been widely acknowledged that the growing Chinese activities in Africa have various implications for the EU, this article revisits the prevailing argument that the Chinese (re)involvement on the African continent poses a threat to the EU's geopolitical reach in the region by challenging its norms and practices. On the contrary, this article takes the view that the alternative presented by China has encouraged the EU to act as a more coherent and consistent international actor and to start redefining the nature of its partnership with Africa. As a result, new opportunities arise for Sino-European cooperation in Africa.
Integrating an Outsider: An EU Perspective on Relations with Norway
Authors: Hillion Christophe
Published: April 2022

Through a dense network of agreements covering a wide range of policy areas, the multilayered association between the EU and Norway has led to a high degree of integration that, at least in substantive terms, brings Norway close to EU membership. Viewed as an effective tool for EU norm projection and a vector of generous external support for the Union policies at a relatively modest institutional cost, the specific EU Norway formula of integration without membership, with the EEA as its cornerstone, is often referred to by the Union as a template for the development of its neighbourhood policy. Several factors, not least the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, have, however, led the Union to call for a review of that formula, with a view to crafting a new 'comprehensive approach'. This article locates the specific EU-Norway arrangement in the broader context of the Union's relations with its European neighbours. In particular, it attempts to expose the main driving force of the EU's policy towards states in its vicinity and how Norway fits into the wider process of European integration, as seen from the Union. It then analyses the main challenges to the current EU-Norway arrangement from an EU perspective and discusses how those could be addressed.
How Substantial Is Substance? Concluding Reflections on the Study of Substance in EU Democracy Promotion
Authors: Schimmelfennig Frank
Published: April 2022

These concluding reflections deal with three arguments that could be put forward against the research agenda of this special issue: that substance is either trivial or non-existent or not consequential. The article argues that, whereas substance has clearly been shown to be non-trivial, the 'substance of substance' and its effects are open issues. It also suggests areas for further research: subtypes of liberal democracy and alternative templates such as democratic governance, the inputs and processes that generate the substance of democracy promotion, and the link between substance and instruments.

The contributions to this special issue tackle an important dimension of EU democracy promotion. As Anne Wetzel and Jan Orbie rightly point out in their introductory article, research on EU democracy promotion has focused predominantly on strategies and instruments, on the one hand, and effects and results, on the other. Substance has mainly played a role with regard to the consistency, or rather inconsistency, of EU democracy promotion but has not been an important research area in its own right. This special issue goes a long way in filling this gap. By disentangling the broad notion of democracy according to several partial regimes and by studying the content of EU democracy promotion at the level of regions and even individual countries, the contributors provide a nuanced and differentiated picture of what the EU promotes.
Coherence in European Union External Policy before and after the Lisbon Treaty: The Cases of Energy Security and Climate Change
Authors: Schunz Simon , de Jong Sijbren
Published: April 2022

The creation of the Treaty of Lisbon sparked high hopes for a greater level of coherence within the application of European Union (EU) external policies. Now, more than two years after its entry into force, the question remains to what extent the Treaty actually succeeded in fostering greater external unity. Through a systematic analysis of EU and Member State actions in the areas of EU external energy and climate policies, both prior and immediately after the Treaty's arrival, this article aims to critically evaluate whether Lisbon is able to live up to the initial expectations.
The Dispute over the Sovereignty of Jerusalem: EU Policies and the Search for Internal Legal Coherence and Consistency with International Law
Authors: Harpaz Guy
Published: April 2022

This article examines the EU's post-1967 conflict resolution policies pertaining to the dispute over sovereignty over Jerusalem. Analytically, it provides the first in-depth, genealogical analysis of the evolution of the EU policies, distilling four 'generations' of them, while normatively, it offers a critique of the consistency, coherence and legal cogency of such policies and their compatibility with international law. Yet the importance of this article lies beyond the particular case-study of Jerusalem, as it establishes that EU conflict resolution policies may, drawing on the work of Aggestam, be contextualized within the conceptual in the EU's self-perceived role, from 'what it is' to 'what it does', from passively representing 'power of attraction' to adopting the proactive role of an 'ethical power'. In such a role, international legal norms upon which the EU strives to premise its contribution to the resolution of disputes over sovereignty serve it in both a constitutive and an instrumentalist manner. However, and as the article has striven to demonstrate, the EU faces significant difficulties when attempting to assist in solving disputes over contested territories, based on rule-based diplomacy and strict commitment to international law, while having to face well-entrenched realities and accommodate realpolitik considerations. Consequently, the EU cannot ensure at all times its strict compliance with international law as such compliance ignores political realities and such ignorance mitigates, in turn, the already compromised centrality and effectiveness of the EU as a Normative Power in the Middle East and elsewhere. Thus, the EU will have to continue to seek the via media between international legality and political reality, strict observance of international law and effectiveness, lex ferenda and lex lata and between Constructivist-led, universalistic, value-based conflict resolution policies and more Realist-led, self-interest, security-based and hegemony-motivated policies.
Improving CSDP Planning and Capability Development: Could there be a Frontex Formula?
Authors: Fiott Daniel
Published: April 2022

The newly agreed operational rules for Frontex allows the Agency to, among other things, buy or lease its own equipment for missions and/or to do so in co-ownership with the Member States and to request national seconded staff for its operations. The new rules are a major step forward in further developing Frontex's resources. Yet this progress has not been matched, despite the Lisbon treaty's protocol on Permanent Structured Cooperation, and in light of the defence budget cuts being made in many European Union (EU) Member States, when it comes to the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). This article asks why, given that each policy area is ultimately aimed at the defence and security of the EU, are the innovations that have been agreed for Frontex not equally applicable to CSDP? Why have Member States increased cooperation under Frontex without equivalent or similar progress under the CSDP? This article aims to shed light on the differences and similarities of the two policy domains in order to see if a 'Frontex formula' could be applicable to the CSDP
Balancing Fundamental Rights Protection and Effective Multilateralism: The EU and Zimbabwes Marange Diamonds
Authors: Vlaskamp Martijn C.
Published: April 2022

This article analyses the role of the EU in the negotiations of the Kimberley Process (KP) regarding the Marange diamonds from Zimbabwe. As these gems did not comply with the requirements of the KP, they were banned from trading in 2009. The subsequent discussions between proponents of a hard line towards Zimbabwe and advocates of a rapid readmission of these diamonds brought the KP on the brink of collapse and it was not before the end of 2011 that an EU-brokered compromise ended this crisis. At the same time these diamonds remained on the EU-sanctions list until 2013.The article explains how the EU tried to find a balance between its normative policies regarding human rights violations and being a 'force for good', and aimed to preserve the KP as a tool of 'effective multilateralism'. It argues that these two objectives are sometimes hard to reconcile in a multipolar world.
The EUs Comprehensive Approach to Security in Asia
Authors: Reiterer Michael
Published: April 2022

This article aims at demonstrating through examples that the EU's longstanding engagement in Asia with ASEAN and Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) in addition to bilateral relations progressively and in line with the new understanding of the EU as a comprehensive political actor in international relations extends beyond trade and economics, e.g., security matters. This growing engagement predates the US pivot but seeks to complement US efforts and tries to carve out a niche for EU policies in the rearrangement of power-relations and the emerging institutional architecture of the region. It links up with the special EFAR issue on a European Approach to Comprehensive Security in highlighting the EU's comprehensive approach to security, focusing on experience in non-traditional security threats and drawing on its historic experience of trust and confidence building, conflict prevention and management, all public goods in short supply in the region. If the EU acts coherently it could have a higher degree of credibility in supplying these goods than other players in the region (China, Japan, US) thereby countering through concrete initiatives the narrative that the EU is neither present in nor relevant for Asia.
Examining the Discretion of the EEAS: What Power to Act in the EU-Moldova Association Agreement?
Authors: Kostanyan Hrant
Published: April 2022

This article applies the principal-agent model to examine the discretion of the European External Action Service (EEAS) agent vis-à-vis the Member State (MS) principals in the negotiation of the EU-Moldova Association Agreement including the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA). The EEAS was allocated various responsibilities in each of these policy areas. While the EEAS is in charge of negotiations on political association, it does not lead in the area of free trade talks; the Directorate General for Trade of the European Commission plays a greater role in this process. Moreover, in the areas of sectoral cooperation pertinent to the EU-Moldova Association Agreement, the EEAS has to rely extensively on the expertise of the European Commission's Directorates General. The European Commission therefore functions as a horizontal check with regard to the EEAS. The article finds that in order to monitor and control the EEAS' action throughout the negotiation of the EU-Moldova Association Agreement, the MS employ ex ante and ex post mechanisms. The control exercised by the MS and the checks applied by the Commission considerably limit the EEAS' discretion in pursuing the Association Agreement and the DCFTA between the EU and Moldova. Besides applying the principal-agent model, the original empirical research of this article contributes to the understanding of the EU's post-Lisbon foreign policy institutional architecture.
The International Missions in Kosovo: What is in a Name?
Authors: Musliu Vjosa
Published: April 2022

This article problematizes the concept of 'mission' in international interventions, who is entitled to missionize and how the missionized subject is conceptualized. By looking at the international missions in Kosovo (those of the UN and particularly the EU), we problematize how the EU mission in Kosovo is entrenched in a trajectory of 'missionizing' that makes it bear the stigma of a structure non-responsive and non-sensitive to the local. Employing Derrida's deconstruction, we explain that the criticism (academic, dogmatic, ideological and empirical) of international missions relates not so much to how they operate in their host countries, or to the policy choices they make. Rather, looking at the path dependency of missions in the Western historical and civilizational trajectory, we maintain that the problem derives from the idea and very concept of 'mission' as intervention in itself.
Europeanization and Internalized Conflicts: The Case of Cyprus
Authors: Kyris George
Published: April 2022

This article investigates the role of the EU in conflict resolution, taking Cyprus as a case of an 'internalized' conflict, whereby a side of the dispute (Greek Cypriots) has joined the EU, while the rest of actors (Turkey, Turkish Cypriots) remain outside but are still developing relations to Brussels. In exploring the impact of the EU on Greek Cypriot, Turkish Cypriot and Turkish policies towards the dispute, this work engages with the Europeanization debate. The argument advanced is that internalization of the conflict limits the ability of the EU to act in the dispute and triggers inflexible policies, which are counterproductive to resolution. This work contributes to the Europeanization discussion and the impact of the EU on domestic policies, especially in conflict situations. With a series of conflicts in the European periphery but also disputes within the EU (e.g. separatists tensions), this is a contribution to the understudied topic of 'internalized conflicts'.
The Uniqueness of the EU Humanitarian Aid Policy between Sovereignty and Humanitarian Concerns
Authors: Pusterla Elia , Pusterla Francesca
Published: April 2022

This article investigates the European Union Humanitarian Aid Policy's (EUHAP's) institutional shape. A theoretical approach referring to the literature on sovereignty is adopted, hypothesizing that the EUHAP has ideal institutional settings to cope with European Union (EU) integration and Member States' concerns about the maintenance of sovereignty. Challenging the formalist approach assuming sovereignty as an organized hypocrisy whereof states are the incontrovertible promoters, the article shows how EUHAP's implementation, rather than negotiation, indicates evidence of arguable sovereign control by Member States over the EU's activity. The enhancing of EU's competences within EUHAP's implementation, sometimes going beyond what has been agreed with Member States within negotiations, signals the inability of EUHAP's sui generis institutional setting to combine the advantages of supranational cooperation with an absence of risk for Member States' sovereignty. EUHAP's institutional uniqueness must depend on reasons associated with the satisfaction of humanitarian aid priorities rather than on the EU's internal logics.
The European Defence Agency and the Member States: Public and Hidden Transcripts
Authors: Davis Cross Mai’a K.
Published: April 2022

The European Defence Agency (EDA) was founded in 2004 with the aim of improving the EU’s defence capabilities through promoting collaboration, common initiatives, and innovative solutions to the EU’s security needs. This article examines the nature of the relationship between European Union Member States and the EDA a decade after its founding. The agency has solidified a clear body of norms that it seeks Member States to implement. To a surprising extent, Member States have publically embraced these norms as necessary for the future viability of European security. But they at the same time resist implementing these norms in certain fundamental ways. Building upon the framework article of this special issue, the author applies the concepts of ‘public’ and ‘hidden’ transcripts to shed light on how Member States simultaneously embrace and resist norms in a climate of supranational pressure.
EU/US Migration Policy Towards Emerging Countries: Regulatory Power Reversed?
Authors: Jurje Flavia , Lavenex Sandra
Published: April 2022

As attractive destinations, both the EU and the US have long sought the cooperation of countries of origin of migrants to regulate cross-border flows. Large emerging economies like China and India are no exception. While hierarchical attempts at striking readmission agreements with these countries have been met with clear resistance, both the EU and the US have turned to ‘softer’ modes of coordination, eventually becoming themselves the targets of China’s and India’s demands for wider openings on migration and mobility. These demands have emerged in different venues: multilateral trade negotiations in the context of the WTO’s General Agreement on Trade in Services, bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations and migration dialogues. This article maps the countries’ respective agendas and analyses to what extent and through which channels China and India are gaining regulatory influence on international migration cooperation
The European Parliament and the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries: Between Interests and Values
Authors: Charfi Mohamed
Published: April 2022

Several analyses exist on the relations between the European Union (EU) and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. However, the role played by the European Parliament (EP) in these relations remains little explored. This study helps to fill this gap through an analysis of the main instruments used by the parliamentarians and the actors involved during 2004–2016. We argue that, despite the fact that EU foreign policy continues to be fundamentally the prerogative of EU Member States, the EP has instituted various instruments that influence it. The analysis shows a real interest on the part of the EP in the GCC countries, particularly after 2010, although this has not significantly contributed to the promotion of EUGCC relations. The EP’s discourse has been dominated by issues of human rights and security, with a marginal place reserved for the promotion of trade relations and the conclusion of free trade agreement (FTA). We conclude that in order to promote the relations between the two sides, the EP could adopt a more realistic approach based on common interests and challenges. For the GCC countries, a more active parliamentary diplomacy would be beneficial in order to assert their positions and to have a more balanced relationship with the EP.
The Enigmatic Role of Defence in the EU: From EDC to EDU?
Authors: Duke Simon
Published: April 2022

The ‘D’ in the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) has always been taken for granted with relatively little thought until recently about what it actually means. ‘Defence’, often mentioned alongside security, has an enigmatic quality which has rendered the ‘D’ in CSDP essentially silent. The article posits two inter-related questions. First, in what ways has defence appeared in the European integration narrative, especially more recently? Second, how seriously should advocacy of a common defence for the EU be taken and what are the opportunities and challenges associated with the notion? It will be argued that defence per se is part of the EU’s new level of ambition but the generic use of the term is being rapidly reshaped by geopolitical concerns and possible longer-term changes in transatlantic relations that may lead to a common defence, which is less likely to be a rehashed European Defence Community (EDC) than something based upon variable geometry and permanent structured cooperation.
Practicing or Preaching? Linking Taxation and Sustainable Development in EU Foreign Policy
Authors: Pilke Riina
Published: April 2022

For international and regional organizations such as the European Union (EU), taxation has become an important redistributive mechanism under the Sustainable Development Goals, which underline shared responsibility for poverty reduction as an outcome and the involvement of sectors beyond development cooperation. Focusing on the EU Platform for Tax Good Governance, this study investigates the European Commission’s means for tax good governance between the institution and developing economies. The results, which are based on interviews and a set of official documents, point to fairly strong policies for tax coordination and to a commitment to the implementation of the goals, but incoherencies in programme design when it comes to mainstreaming of tax good governance principles to different policy sectors. These stem from difficulties in finding unanimous solutions between the Member States, and from the limited collaborative working culture in the European Commission, owing to different and often competing internal interests.
Non-Parliamentary Diplomacy: The European Parliaments Diplomatic Mission to Ukraine
Authors: Romanyshyn Iulian , Redei Lorinc
Published: April 2022

While today we associate Ukraine with conflict and occupation, the period preceding the Maidan protests saw the European Union use a peaceful but peculiar diplomatic instrument to pressure the country’s leaders: shuttle diplomacy by an informal group called the Cox-Kwasniewski mission. This mission was launched not by the European External Action Service, or the European Commission, but rather the European Parliament (EP). Composed of a former EP President and a former Polish President, it visited Ukraine 27 times, eased the conditions and even obtained the release of political prisoners, and pushed the Ukrainian government to adopt a series of legal reforms.

This article argues that this instance of the European Parliament (EP) participating in EU foreign policy nevertheless cannot be called parliamentary diplomacy. In fact, its limited successes stemmed from the deliberately unparliamentary characteristics of the mission. It was not a complement to a higher-level, executive-to-executive diplomatic initiative. It lacked transparency and accountability. And it did not rely on parliamentary procedures – or even parliamentarians at all. Rather, it is an example of the EP engaging in non-parliamentary diplomacy – an aspect of its influence and participation in EU foreign policy that is likely to increase in the near future.
Non-governmental Search and Rescue Operations in the Mediterranean: Challenge or Opportunity for the EU?
Authors: Irrera Daniela
Published: April 2022

The article analyses the development of Search and Rescue (SAR) Operations in the Central Mediterranean by NGOs as a controversial but efficient practice and aims to discuss its impact on states’ and EU performances in coping with the migrant and refugee crisis. Using empirical data provided by the Italian Coast Guard from 2014 to 2018, it focuses on these questions: Are non-governmental SAR operations at sea becoming a civilian practice to be associated with governmental ones? Can the consolidation of such practice impact (complement) governmental and intergovernmental policies?

It is divided into three parts. First, civil society organizations, and specifically NGOs, are analysed within the theoretical studies on migration, to stress their roles and approaches and to understand their relevance. Second, the recent use of SAR operations at sea by NGOs to rescue people in the Mediterranean are discussed as a complementary tool to governmental one. Their potentiality to become more than a temporary solution and instead to constitute an innovative and consolidated practice of ‘non-governmental SAR operations’ is assessed. Last, empirical data are used to evaluate the perception of such practice and to discuss its political and social legitimation.
Civil Society Versus the State. The Case of Morocco
Authors: Mouna Khalid
Published: April 2022

The process of democratization in Morocco has confronted political and economic challenges. Civil society has recently become very active in Moroccan society, operating in all sectors and starting from the paradigm of human rights. However, this civil society faces two major difficulties. The first is intrinsic to its existence, because it lacks resources and professionalism; whereas the second difficulty lies in the nature of power and its centralization, as central power is obsessed by co-optation of political actors and actors from civil society. Thus political actors and social activists must start from consensus as a prerequisite and avoid anything that could challenge the political system. This leaves little room for a genuine democratic process and is the context that the EU enters as an external player. Its presence is perceived as ambivalent, even neocolonial; its practices are not seen as supportive of the local fight for democracy, but as a source to use by emerging players, which is evidence of the competition for resources among the different actors in Morocco’s political system.

Morocco, society, law, authoritarianism