EU TRADE POLICY AND CIVIL SOCIETY: DIFFERENT CHANNELS, SAME SUCCESS?

Postnikov, Evgeny (2015) EU TRADE POLICY AND CIVIL SOCIETY: DIFFERENT CHANNELS, SAME SUCCESS? [Conference Proceedings] (Submitted)

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Abstract

Following the recent stalemate in the global trading system, the European Union (EU) has eschewed its insistence on multilateralism and spearheaded the signing of bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) with various states across the world. Furthermore, with the passage of the Treaty of Lisbon in 2009 the European Parliament (EP) now has to ratify all EU FTAs. How has civil society in the EU adapted to these changes? This paper explores the preferences and strategies of labor groups with regard to EU FTAs before and after these changes. It argues that the ability of civil society actors to influence EU trade policy remains limited, owing to the entrenched institutional factors which limit the participation of civil society in setting the trade policy agenda, despite the greater role of the EP. It also shows that EU civil society actors have been increasingly using bilateral FTAs as a new window of opportunity and a way to create institutionalized transnational linkages with their counterparts in FTA partners. These linkages have become a persistent feature of the EU approach towards FTAs. They have also allowed mutual learning among civil society actors in the EU and its trading partners. Yet, the effectiveness of these institutional channels remains limited and conditioned on the organizational capacity of civil society in EU FTA partners.

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