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“Flexible Models: External Policy and the European Economic Constitution”

Cremona, Marise. (1999) “Flexible Models: External Policy and the European Economic Constitution”. In: UNSPECIFIED, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Unpublished)

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    Abstract

    In this paper I ask to what extent can the flexibility and differentiated integration that we are seeing emerge as a characteristic of the constitution of the European Union be applied to the EC’s external relationships? I provide a starting point, an outline of a framework to analyse the operation of ‘flexibility’ and ‘differentiation’ in the context of external policy. The fundamental question is just what these concepts might mean in this particular context, and from two rather different perspectives. From one perspective, the factors that condition the type of relationship offered by the EU to third states indicate a highly developed form of differentiation between states and groups of states which is regional, developmental and conditional. Then, if we move to what might be termed ‘substantive flexibility’ (or inflexibility) in the terms of specific external agreements, we can ask to what extent is the Community as negotiator flexible in defining the scope and content of a specific agreement so that it reflects the priorities and needs of the negotiating partner(s)? Or does the Community offer a package deal which is not so much the result of a complex multilateral multi-staged negotiation (in the style of the Uruguay Round ‘package’), but more like the travel agent’s package, a standard-form contract requiring adherence to an essentially non-negotiable core of commitments? The idea of a ‘non-negotiable core’ also raises the possibility of a parallel between the core commitments required of third states, and the (putative) common core to which the Member States are committed and which form a unifying set of values and norms holding together a Union with flexibility built into its post-Amsterdam constitution. After briefly exploring ‘differentiation’ and ‘flexibility’ as these terms are used in external policy-making, I look at external policy from both these perspectives and at the evolving rationale, generated both internally and externally, for what is becoming a key component of the Community’s external policy.

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    Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item (UNSPECIFIED)
    Subjects for non-EU documents: EU policies and themes > Treaty reform > Constitution for Europe
    EU policies and themes > External relations > common foreign & security policy 1993--European Global Strategy
    Subjects for EU documents: UNSPECIFIED
    EU Series and Periodicals: UNSPECIFIED
    EU Annual Reports: UNSPECIFIED
    Conference: European Union Studies Association (EUSA) > Biennial Conference > 1999 (6th), June 2-5, 1999
    Depositing User: Phil Wilkin
    Official EU Document: No
    Language: English
    Date Deposited: 05 May 2006
    Number of Pages: 40
    Last Modified: 02 Nov 2013 22:58
    URI: http://aei.pitt.edu/id/eprint/2248

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