Reconciling the de-centering of EU foreign policy and policy transfer

Organised by

• Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies
• Department of Political and Social Sciences
• GGP: Global Governance Programme
• Decentering Eurocentrism

The presentation will bring together two strands of research. On one hand, the theme of de-centering EU external relations - summarised in a recent textbook chapter - and what this means specifically in the area of trade and development as well as more broadly with regards to the functioning of the EEAS. On the other hand, the connection between EU and global differentiated cooperation, based on a study written for EU3D as part of the EUI-based network on "Differentiation: Clustering Excellence (DiCE) and available here. The author will explore ways of applying the differentiation lens from the EU to the global level of inter-state cooperation to then ask what this means for EU external relations - using a relational view of differentiated cooperation. The presentation will focus particularly on how the EU maximises democratic congruence, including vertical and horizontal non domination, fails to do so. On this basis, it will critically explore a relational typology of differentiated integration consisting of selection, recognition, distinction and discretion and on that basis discuss various options for the EU to re-engage the multilateralism agenda.