EU Inter-Regionalism: An Effective Channel for the Export of Regional Integration?

Abstract

This panel will seek contributions to comparatively analyse how successful the EU’s interregional strategy in Asia, Latin America and Africa has been as a means of exporting regional integration. It is widely accepted that the EU’s interregional strategy has recently encountered difficulties, notably in Asia and Latin America where the EU has moved towards a more bilateral approach, but this panel will try to assess how successful the export of regional integration, and the processes of dialogue and negotiation in interregional relations, have been in establishing solid and long-standing regional integration in EU partner regions around the world. The EU has long-established interregional, transregional and bilateral relations with Asia (notably with ASEAN), Latin America (Mercosur, Central American Common Market and the Andean Community) and Africa (EPA regions) based on a common strategic and institutional approach. This amalgam of different levels of relations can be described as ‘complex interregionalism’, reflecting the coexistence of different levels of interaction in EU external relations as the EU constantly tries to adapt to and position itself within the changing international environment. The EU has also systematically favoured regional partners as interlocutors where possible, providing support and backing as appropriate. Over time, there has been a constant process of balancing and re-balancing between these different levels of relations, and more recently this seems to have resulted in a move away from the ‘pure’ interregional level towards the bilateral level of relations with key partners. It is thus important to explore how successful and sustainable the EU export of regional integration through interregional relations has been, and to assess whether the EU move towards increased bilateralism compromises previous support for regional integration.

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