European Union Trade Agreements Research Articles

Plying the Trade Freely: Prostitution and European Union Trade Agreements in the Case of Aldona Malgorzata Jany and Others

The international debate over sex trafficking has been mired in the debate over prostitution itself. The European Court of Justice’s recent Jany decision represents a laissez faire reading of European Union trade agreements. However, by employing a model of Governance Feminism, one may explore the realist consequences of the case for sex workers. Application of the model enables one to examine these shifts in sex workers’ bargaining power without deciding whether prostitution is simply work or inherent oppression. The author concludes that such an examination may lead to possibilities for prostitutes to ply both international borders and their trade freely.

The Eurasian Economic Axis: Its Present and Prospective Significance for East Asia

The economic relationship between East Asia and the European Union (EU) has been the subject of increasing academic attention. This has been heightened by politico-institutional endeavors to strengthen the weak link in the “Triad” (Europe, East Asia, North America—the world's dominant economic regions) since the early 1990s, including various bilateral initiatives such as the 1991 Japan–EU Declaration and the 1996 Korea–EU Trade and Co-operation Agreement, as well as the new interregional “dialogue framework” provided by the Asia–Europe Meetings (ASEM). The ASEM has wider geoeconomic significance in that it constitutes the last interregional Triadic arrangement to fall into place, the others being the Asia–Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) forum (augmenting the transpacific axis) and the New Transatlantic Agenda (transatlantic axis).

South African trade hegemony: Is the South Africa–EU Trade, Development and Cooperation Agreement heading for a BRICS wall?

South African dominance of trade in Africa as well as its position as a regional hegemon was entrenched by the Trade, Development and Cooperation Agreement (TDCA) with the European Union in 1999. South Africa's full-blown integration into the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) formation since 2011 has brought new dynamics, however, as South Africa now has a marked BRICS orientation. Although the European Union (EU) as a bloc is still South Africa's largest trading partner, China has become South Africa's largest single-country trading partner. The question arises as to whether this new found loyalty makes sense in terms of South Africa's regional position and its trade prospects. Against the background of more intra-industry trade with the EU and the new and growing inter-industry trade with the other BRICS economies, South Africa's trade share of African trade has been in relative decline. This study uses an international political economy framework to analyse South African trade hegemony based on the TDCA and the possible effects of a shift towards BRICS. The conclusion is that, although the shift towards BRICS can politically be justified, economically it should not be at the expense of the benefits of the more advantageous relationship with the EU.