EU External Governance Research Articles

Onwards and ...eastwards? EU-Azerbaijan relations as an example of crisis-driven agenda-setting within the framework of the European neighbourhood policy

This paper uses qualitative discourse analysis to investigate how the Second Nagorno-Karabakh war in 2020 and Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 have impacted bilateral relations between the European Union and Azerbaijan in the realm of security and energy policy? The study takes into account geo-political developments in the aftermath of the 2018 Agreement on New Partnership Priorities, as well as contemplates the future of the European Neighbourhood Policy. In this context, the paper illuminates the interplay of EU external governance, agenda-setting, and crisis concepts. In essence, the paper asserts that the EU responds swiftly to crises, such as the Ukraine and Karabakh conflicts, through actions like mediation, investments, and deepening bilateral relations, while often overlooking the root causes. Additionally, the EU consistently emphasizes long-term strategies and energy policies, with security concerns becoming more prominent during crisis periods.

EU external governance in policy area under “embedded stalemate”: navigating the dynamic networks of Turkish transport

ABSTRACT This paper offers a nuanced examination of EU external governance within the challenging terrain of ‘embedded stalemate’, utilizing a network governance lens. Focusing on the Turkish transport sector as a case study, the research seeks to unravel the determinants of EU compliance in areas characterized by a protracted political impasse. By investigating the intricate dynamics of this ‘embedded stalemate’, the paper explores the question: ‘How do various factors influence the compliance with the EU in the Turkish transport sector amid a prolonged stalemate characterized by the absence of benchmarks and deadlines?’ Through 11 semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders, ranging from Turkish Ministry officials to private transport advisors, the study identifies variables such as incentives, actor capacities, asymmetry of interdependence, socialization, and politicization as crucial forces influencing the trajectory of compliance. The conceptual framework of network governance is introduced, providing a theoretical lens to understand the complex web of actors and preferences in this dynamic landscape. Therefore, the study concludes that as a result of ‘embedded stalemate’, patchy compliance is achieved through prolonged and dynamically evolving network governance involving a diverse array of actors from both the EU and Turkey sides.

Victim of Its Own Success (?) – The European Union's Anti‐corruption Policy Advice in Ukraine Between Grand Visions and (Geo)political Realities

AbstractThe European Union's (EU) external governance enjoys significant attention in the literature. Yet its outcomes are usually assessed with reference to strategic documents or scholars' self‐designed criteria. This article contributes to the ongoing debate with a discourse analysis focusing on the perceptions of anti‐corruption reform outcomes in Ukraine by actors on different levels in the EU. Simultaneously, structural factors are incorporated into the analysis. It demonstrates that although constant progress is officially proclaimed by the EU, even technical advisers disagree on how success in this crucial domain is understood and how to measure it. High‐level representatives face a balancing act between conditionality demands, sovereignty limitations and geopolitical considerations. This explains the official signalling by the EU and the development of its rule‐of‐law reform conditionality. The outcome is a potential state of moral hazard and raise the question whether EU external governance has not become a victim of its ‘own success’.

‘Formal informality’ in EU external migration governance: the case of mobility partnerships

ABSTRACT External migration has become a site for extensive EU activity, not least in the years following the start of the migration ‘crisis’ in 2015–2016. It has also become a testing ground for forms of governance that are not generally associated with external relations. We term this type of governance ‘formal informality’ as there is the appearance of an EU agreement with a third country but lacking the legal protections or transparency for actions taken under it. The informality associated with tools of governance is potentially problematic when used to bypass the substantive and procedural formalities associated with law, and which in turn ensure transparency and the protection of rights. This article uses the emergence and evolution of Mobility Partnerships between the EU and third countries as a prism to analyse what the moves towards informality mean for the governance of external migration.

Introduction: EU external migration policy and EU migration governance: introduction

ABSTRACT While the EU’s external migration policy arguably constitutes the most dynamic strand of EU migration policy, especially since the 2015/2016 asylum crisis in Europe, and while there is also a growing body of research on this dimension, more comprehensive, conceptually informed social science publications analysing this policy area in a more encompassing fashion are scarce. In an attempt to make progress on this front, this special issue focusses on four sets of issues: (1) conceptualising EU external migration policy; (2) identifying the drivers and conditioning factors of EU policy; (3) analysing interdependencies and interactions between different policy areas and instruments; and (4) tracing the influence and reactions of third country actors and non-European host countries of migration. After describing key developments and aspects of EU external migration policies over time and after reviewing the state of the art in research on EU external migration policy, the key contributions of the individual papers are identified and contextualised.

EU Accession Conditionality and Compliance with the Energy Community Treaty: A Missing Link

EU accession conditionality is expected to be an incentive for third countries to apply EU energy rules. However, looking at the latest Energy Community (EnC) Implementation Report (2021), Ukraine, then a non-candidate country, performed better than the candidate country of Serbia in liberalizing its energy sector. Adopting the EU external governance approach, this article investigates whether this result depends on the EU’s bargaining power or, rather, on the domestic cost-benefit calculation of implementing the EnC acquis. While applying this legislation proves to be quite costly for both Serbia and Ukraine, the EU’s bargaining power turns out to have opposite effects in the two cases. This has increased in Ukraine as a result of the deterioration of relations between Moscow and Kiev, thus leading to an increasingly implementation of the EnC acquis. Conversely, the EU’s bargaining power has decreased in Serbia due to Russia’s significant presence in the country’s energy sector, which is a major obstacle to the implementation of the EnC legislation. A significant level of EU bargaining power has therefore the potential to reverse the impact of domestic factors, leading to a reconsideration of the role that international energy dynamics play in accession conditionality. Finally, conclusions are drawn on how the EnC can benefit from this finding and improve its effectiveness. Energy Community, EU external governance, Energy governance, Accession conditionality, Ukraine, Serbia

Unpacking the unintended consequences of European migration governance: the case of South American migration policy liberalisation

ABSTRACT Research on the external dimension of EU migration governance has focused on the EU’s interests, preferences, and policy efficiency and coherence. Little attention has been paid to the myriad ways both partner and third countries react to the union’s external action. We explore the European influence on immigration and refugee policy liberalisation in South America, a region not directly targeted by extra-regional migration governance. Based on the analysis of 130 original interviews with government officials and NGO and IO representatives in eight South American countries we show that - although South American policymakers generally regard the EU as a model of ‘efficiency’, in terms of the EU’s intra-regional mobility regime – the remarkable legislative liberalisation in the region took place in the context of both political and moral opposition to restrictive shifts in EU extra-regional migration governance. The paper contributes to the literature on the EU external migration governance, policy diffusion, and Latin American migration policies by uncovering some of the unintended consequences of European migration governance in South America.

Regional security cooperation revisited: the Western Balkans as the future security provider

ABSTRACT In this article, we offer a fresh look at the Western Balkans by addressing EU external governance with respect to a regional security cooperation perspective as a major EU external governance venue. We analyse how the said cooperation represents a positive example of EU rule transfer by paying attention to the results and to the level of regional ownership in the EU-Western Balkans security engagement. We pay tribute to the existing research on the EU external governance model with respect to regional cooperation and security and build our arguments by extending the said model. The said analysis represents the basis for our claims that the region has transformed from a consumer (of European security) into a security provider. Hence, the Western Balkans has witnessed an EU-induced security framework allowing it to build its capabilities and experience towards finding a more efficient role in the European security system and its governance. We aim to establish a basis for rethinking the concept of the EU-Western Balkans engagement from the Justice and Home Affairs perspective as the core element of what is described in EU strategic documents as EU external governance, outlining a more symmetric relationship between Brussels and the region.

From Mobility Partnerships to Migration Compacts: security implications of EU-Jordan relations and the informalization of migration governance

ABSTRACT Recent events in the Middle East and North Africa entailed a proliferation of policy tools for EU external migration governance. After the signature of Mobility Partnerships, the EU launched Migration Compacts, whose inner logic is to ‘avoid the risk that concrete delivery is held up by technical negotiations for a fully-fledged formal agreement’. This paper examines the development of the EU’s external migration governance and frames it into a formalization/informalization dichotomy. We argue that the EU-led securitisation of migration has contributed to the increasing informalization of EU-third countries agreements. The case of Jordan is relevant in understanding the EU’s approach, as a strategy to muddle through in a region in turmoil.

Prospective Policy Study on Artificial Intelligence and EU Trade Policy

Artificial intelligence holds enormous promise for our information civilization if we get the governance of artificial intelligence right. For the EU – and the Netherlands in particular – ensuring responsible artificial intelligence is a top priority. With the exception of privacy and personal data protection, the tenets of responsible artificial intelligence are not (yet) codified in EU law. The EU is now drafting new rules to provide for ethical and human-centric artificial intelligence. What makes artificial intelligence even more fascinating is that the technology can be deployed fairly location-independent. Data and machine learning code can be moved across today’s digital ecosystem and the predictive outcomes of an artificial intelligence system can be applied at a distance. The fluidity of artificial intelligence inevitably holds repercussions for the societies it interacts with which can affects individuals’ fundamental rights and societal values. Cross-border trade in digital services which incorporate applied artificial intelligence into their software architecture is ever increasing. That brings artificial intelligence within the purview of international trade law, such as the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and ongoing negotiations at the World Trade Organization (WTO) on trade related aspects of electronic commerce. The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs commissioned this study to generate knowledge about the interface between international trade law and European norms and values in the use of artificial intelligence. The study embarked on research of artificial intelligence with a comprehensive look at areas where EU external trade and EU governance of artificial intelligence intersect.

From principle to practice? The resilience–local ownership nexus in the EU Eastern Partnership policy

ABSTRACTBy emphasizing concepts such as resilience and local ownership, recent updates in the EU's foreign policy strategy have marked a narrative turn and signaled a shift in EU external governance toward its neighborhood. This article has two aims. First, we unpack the EU's conceptual understanding of resilience and local ownership as reflected in its recent strategic documents. Second, we examine the implications of the EU's narrative turn on actual policy practices in Eastern Partnership countries. We highlight a gap between the EU's broad understanding of resilience and local ownership and the narrow operationalization of these concepts in the EU's eastern policy. The article shows that the EU continued relying on the previously established policy frameworks, according to which resilience develops through approximation with EU templates. This strong path dependence precluded any effective policy turn toward local ownership.

Unpacking EU external energy governance vis-a-vis Egypt: contradictions, geopolitics and Euro-centrism

ABSTRACT Energy diplomacy, regulation of the single energy market and the export of this regulatory model to EU’s vicinity govern EU energy affairs. This governance nexus, however, suffers from three distinct shortcomings. This paper addresses these in the context of EU external energy governance vis-à-vis Egypt. Firstly, it highlights how geopolitical rationales blur the commercial logic in pipeline politics, derail gas schemes, and marginalize Egypt despite its pivotal energy role. Secondly, it showcases how the three governance modes contradict each other and add layers of contingencies in EU-Egypt gas trade. Thirdly, it questions EU’s hierarchal approach to Egypt, demonstrating how the EU suffers from a clear misconception of Egypt’s role and interests, and hence fails to tap into Egypt’s gas assets.

Fairness Screening of International Investments as an Instrument of EU External Trade and Investment Governance

In today’s multipolar world economy, the societal values and interests that underpin the European project are not shared and protected by all of the EU’s global economic partners. Economic advantage may entice countries to abandon the pursuit of political, social and economic fairness for purposes of attracting foreign investment. Recent EU free trade agreements, such as CETA, have pioneered limited protection against this risk in the area of basic labour and environmental standards. This paper explores a more ambitious, comprehensive framework for how individual rights associated with basic notions of societal fairness could be protected, not by treaty, but indirectly via multinational enterprises as the agents of globalization. It presents a proposal for a coordinated system of inward and outward investment screening to ensure the protection of such rights under existing international commitments and instruments. The paper outlines the areas of further research essential to rendering such a framework operational.

Contested Statehood and EU Actorness in Kosovo, Abkhazia and Western Sahara

ABSTRACTWhat accounts for the variation in EU actorness in cases of contested statehood in the European Neighbourhood? A comparative analysis of the EU’s policies vis-à-vis three territorial conflicts – Kosovo, Abkhazia and Western Sahara – demonstrates the intricate relationship between external conditions and internal EU capability leading to substantial involvement, partial involvement or non-involvement in conflict management. Using insights from the EU actorness debate and the literatures on contested statehood and EU external governance, the paper offers a conceptualisation of the EU’s conflict management role and a contingent explanation of the EU’s varying commitment to managing conflicts in three cases of contested statehood. The paper finds that external determinants have a considerable weight in EU’s policies which existing research tends to overlook owing to its predominant focus on EU’s internal institutional procedures and instruments. It teases out the external action-enabling and action-hindering factors, in particular the external structural constraints arising from the nature of statehood contestation and the agency of other international and local players in the three conflicts in the European Neighbourhood.

Individual-Rights Screening of International Investments As An Instrument of EU External Trade and Investment Governance

How can Europe remain true to its values in the face of outside economic forces? In today’s multipolar world economy, the EU’s founding values are not necessarily shared or enforced by many of its important global trading partners. Other economic systems, such as ‘State capitalism’, ‘anarcho-capitalism’ or ‘crony capitalism’, which may be indifferent to the values enumerated in Article 2 TEU, make their presence felt through transnational interactions. Even where such values are shared, they may be differently enforced. Economic interactions may in fact encourage a ‘race to the bottom’ of the levels of enforcement. Both between and within nations (and within the EU itself), the dialectic between the enforcement of fundamental values and economic globalization means that those values are increasingly at risk of being undermined. This paper explores how individual rights (collectively, IRs)—chiefly fundamental or human rights, but also social and environmental rights—can be rendered enforceable on the international plane indirectly via multinational enterprises as agents of globalization. This approach stands in contrast with the existing paradigm of international economic law of placing the (sole) burden of IR compliance on State actors. The paper asks how a coordinated system of inward and outward IR investment screening and authorization can ensure that global investment flows are made conditional upon the observance of IRs. It is posited that IR screening would provide transparency and a legal remedy concerning the respect for fundamental societal values protected under existing international instruments, but which currently lack effective remedies of enforcement.

Reading Opinion 2/15: Standards of Analysis, the Court's Discretion, and the Legal View of the Advocate General

In Opinion 2/15, the Commission, the European Parliament, the Council, and the Member States litigate whether the Union is exclusively competent to conclude the EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (EUSFTA) alone, or whether the EU ought to involve the Member States as independent parties to a ‘mixed’ agreement. The delineation of the material scope of EU Common Commercial Policy following the Lisbon Treaty reform of 2009 is central to this proceeding. The Court’s opinion stands in the tradition of seminal EU external competence litigation, such as Opinion 1/78 and Opinion 1/94. It is widely expected that the Court’s judgment will further clarify the Union’s constitutional identity in the area of EU external economic relations. It therefore has the potential to have profound implications for EU external economic governance. This note reviews the evolution of the Union’s Common Commercial Policy in context of the Court’s past jurisprudence and scrutinizes the relevant standards of analysis, which the Court employs in its competence enquiry. It is argued that the Court retains ample space for discretionary judicial decision-making, which surfaces at the intersection of the competence enquiry and the determination of appropriate legal bases. The clarification and further refinement of the Court’s analytical standards in its judgment and their transparent and consistent application could substantially reduce incentives for future litigation and inter-institutional political combat. The recent quarrels over the signing, provisional application, and conclusion of CETA provide sufficient emphasis to this point. Using the legal view of Advocate General as a benchmark, the paper discusses the practical implications of the Court’s judgment for EU trade and investment treaty-making. Finally, a number of institutional alternatives are proposed that may ‘save’ EU economic treaty-making from ‘mixity’ and the pitfalls of associated procedures in the EU and the member states.

From Single Voice to Coordinated Polyphony EU Energy Policy and the External Dimension

EU energy policy has often been criticized for disregarding external developments and for not speaking with a single voice in international affairs. Based on a broadly constructivist perspective, this article argues that such criticism is unwarranted. By analysing discursive and institutional changes in internal and external EU energy policy between 2000 and 2016, the article makes three major points. First, external developments were major drivers of the EU’s internal policymaking. Second, EU external energy policy has changed substantially over time and has made important steps towards the creation of a ‘single voice’. Third, such ‘single voice’ should not be taken as the only relevant attribute of EU external energy policy. Drawing on complexity theory and the EU external governance literature, the article argues that Europe should begin to regard its ‘polyphony’ as an asset rather than a burden – it should strive for many voices carrying coordinated messages.

International Adjudication as a Mode of EU External Governance? The WTO Seal Case

AbstractThe literature on EU external governance has greatly advanced our understanding of rule transfers beyond Europe's borders. Contributions highlight different modes of such EU external governance. This contribution proposes to add international adjudication as another form of EU external governance. Acknowledging the important role of judicial decision‐making in shaping the international order, this article uses the example of WTO adjudication to add to existing conceptualizations of EU external governance. In our view, WTO dispute settlement offers possibilities for the EU to transfer EU norms to the international level and beyond its own borders. As we illustrate through an exploratory case study of the recent WTO seal dispute, the EU's internal setup matters greatly for its success.

Multilevelling EU external governance: the role of international organizations in the diffusion of EU migration policies

ABSTRACTThe thematic and geographical expansion of EU migration policies has gone along with an increasing mobilisation of pertinent international organisations such as the IOM and UNHCR. Combining insights from the external governance approach with IR debates on international institutional complexity, this article examines the dynamics behind this ‘multilevelling’ of EU external policies. Three strategies of institutional interplay are distinguished: counterweight, whereby international organisations act as independent complement or corrector to EU policy; subcontracting, referring to the outsourcing of EU project implementation to international organisations; and rule transmission, a process in which international organisations engage in transferring EU rules to third countries. Whereas greater organisational authority and autonomy have allowed the UNHCR to keep an independent voice as counterweight to EU action, both the UNHCR and IOM have become increasingly involved in the implementation of the EU's ‘global approach’ to migration via subcontracting and rule transmission. In sum, these processes shed a new light on the role of the EU within the international migration regime complex.

The EU Funding of Israeli Non-governmental Human Rights Organizations: When EU External Governance Meets a Domestic Counter-Strategy

This article analyses the European Union's (EU's) practice of funding of Israeli Human Rights NGOs. It argues that the pursuance of such a model of governance is a natural choice for the EU, yet such pursuance has encountered in Israel a bottom-to-top counter-strategy of delegitimization conducted against the EU, the NGOs and their collaboration. This counter-strategy was found to discredit the NGOs and the EU and render their mutual collaboration less effective.