Civil Society Responses to the Geo-Economic Turn in EU Trade Policy

The European Union’s (EU) trade policy is increasingly characterised by its focus on geo-economics. Unlateral trade measures abound and even sustainable development in trade is used to advance geo-economic goals. Over the years, civil society has had a complicated relationship with the EU trade policymaking machinery. Initially lacking much influence, it has made recent success in securing concessions from the European Commission on various trade-related issues, ranging from enforceable labour and environmental standards to investor-state dispute settlement provisions. A lot of this success is due to the increased politicisation of trade policy and formation of new Baptist-bootlegger coalitions between civic groups and traditional protectionist interests. Where does a more recent geo-politicisation of EU trade leave civil society? How does it adapt institutionally to this new policymaking environment that is both de-politicised and securitised and where the Commission exercises a new autonomy over trade? This paper addresses this question by providing a typology of civil society responses to various EU trade policies, old and new, unilateral and bilateral. It argues that re-politicising trade through noisy politics by taking it to the streets is of limited value in the current age of geo-economics. Institutionally, civic groups are seeking to adopt quiet politics as an effective strategy to exert influence over EU geo-economic trade policy. This, in turn, necessitates forming new alliances with previously antagonistic groups as well as exploiting different institutional venues.