EU Regional Trade Agreements: An Instrument of Promoting the Rule of Law to Third States

239 Pages·2021·2.345 MB·English

by  Maryna Rabinovych

EU Regional Trade Agreements
This book unveils the potential of utilizing European Union Regional Trade
Agreements (EU RTAs) as an instrument of promoting the rule of law to third
states.
In doing so, the book combines development economics, foreign policy and
legal perspectives at three levels of analysis of four sectors to introduce the concept
of “EU value-promoting RTAs”. The book demonstrates that the EU RTAs bear
considerable potential to be strategized as instruments of promoting the rule of
law in third states, requiring, however, overcoming strict divides between EU
political and economic cooperation, and values and acquis conditionality in its
relations with third countries.
This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of European studies,
European Union law, EU external action/foreign policy, EU trade agreements and
development studies, as well as to NGOs and think tanks that work on European
affairs.
Maryna Rabinovych is Assistant Professor at the Department of Public Policy
and Governance at the Kyiv School of Economics, Ukraine.
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EU Regional Trade Agreements
An Instrument of Promoting the Rule of Law to Third States
Maryna Rabinovych
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EU Regional Trade Agreements
An Instrument of Promoting the Rule of
Law to Third States
Maryna Rabinovych
First published 2021
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2021 Maryna Rabinovych
The right of Maryna Rabinovych to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
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without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Rabinovych, Maryna, author.
Title: EU regional trade agreements : an instrument of promoting the rule
of law to third states / Maryna Rabinovych.
Description: 1 Edition. | New York : Routledge, 2021. | Series: Routledge
studies in european foreign policy | Includes bibliographical references
and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020048449 (print) | LCCN 2020048450 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780367468460 (hardback) | ISBN 9781003031505 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Free trade—European Union countries. | Trade
regulation—European Union countries. | European Union countries—
Commercial policy. | Rule of law—European Union countries. |
European Union countries—Foreign economic relations—European
Free Trade Association countries. | European Free Trade Association. |
European Free Trade Association countries—Foreign economic
relations—European Union countries.
Classification: LCC KJE5177 .R33 2021 (print) | LCC KJE5177 (ebook) |
DDC 343.2408/7—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020048449
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020048450
ISBN: 978-0-367-46846-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-75858-5 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-03150-5 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
Acknowledgements vii
Preface viii
List of abbreviations ix
Introduction 1
1 The concept of the rule of law in the EU external action 11
2 EU external economic policy: history and the legal basis 28
3 The interplay between trade liberalization and the rule
of law in the development context: towards the
concept of EU value-promoting Regional Trade
Agreements (RTAs) 44
4 EU rule of law promotion through RTAs in third states:
the “regulation” dimension 68
5 EU rule of law promotion through RTAs in third states:
the “action” dimension 106
6 Coherence between the “regulation” and “action”
dimensions of rule of law promotion through RTAs
(internal coherence) 144
7 Coherence between the rule of law promotion through
RTAs and EU broader rule of law promotion activities
(external coherence): the case of justice sector
reforms 168
vi Contents
8 The EU-Ukraine DCFTA as an instrument of promoting
the rule of law: conflict, unique approaches to assistance
and unexpected spillovers 190
Outlook and recommendations 216
Index 222
Acknowledgements
I would like to use the chance to express my gratitude to people and institutions
without whom completing this book would be hardly possible.
First, I am profoundly grateful to Prof. Dr. Karsten Nowrot, who patiently sup-
ported me and listened to tonnes of ideas, looking for hidden gems. I am also
grateful to Prof. Dr. Markus Kotzur, Prof. Dr. Thomas Bruha and Martin Lieber-
ich for discussions and ideas at the University of Hamburg and Europa-Kolleg
Hamburg. Parts of my research were completed during my research stays in
Thessaloniki and Vienna, and I would like to thank my academic hosts, Prof.
Dr. Panayotis Glavinis and Prof. Dr. Irmgard Marboe, for their feedback and our
insightful debates. Having presented parts of my research at a number of aca-
demic conferences and workshops in Europe, the USA and Canada, I have ben-
efited from the support of many colleagues including Dr. Anne Pintsch, Dr. Cindy
Wittke, Prof. Dr. Jan Orbie, Prof. Dr. Nicolas Levrat, Dr. Vsevolod Samokhvalov,
Dr. Andreas Umland, Dr. Andriy Tiushka, Prof. Dr. Joan DeBardeleben and many
others. For me, the participation in academic events also means making new
close friends – and I would like to thank Zuzana Novakova, Diana Potjomkina,
Mihai Chihaia, Kostiantyn Fedorenko, Yuliya Kaspiarovich and Paolo Pizzolo
for inspiration, nice informal discussions and сonstant support. I would also like
to thank the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service), the OeAD (Austrian
Academic Exchange Service), the European Commission, the International Stud-
ies Association, the European International Studies Association and UACES (the
academic association for contemporary European studies) for generous financial
and ideational support, and Europa-Kolleg Hamburg for being my home during
several years, while I was doing the research that underlies the book.
There are no words that can express my gratitude to my family and friends,
back to my hometown, Odesa (Ukraine), without whom this work would never
be completed. To my Mom and Dad–for all the support, care and encouragement.
I am especially thankful to Milena Golovina, my English teacher back to high
school, for teaching me English, helping with my very first academic works and
being a person, I can always call. My life would be grey without my soulmates –
Stanislav, Anastasiia and Kateryna – and thank you for our offline and online time
together, and for reading my works.
Preface
The book contributes to the growing body of knowledge about the pursuit of non-
trade policy objectives through the European Union (EU) trade policy. In par-
ticular, it explores the actual and potential suitability of the EU Regional Trade
Agreements (RTAs) as an instrument of promoting the rule of law in partner
countries.
The book introduces the concept of EU value-promoting RTAs, based on the
combination of the foreign policy, legal and development economics perspec-
tives. It offers a detailed account of the legal pathways through which the RTAs
advance the rule of law standards and their interplay with the EU’s application of
unilateral assistance instruments in the Balkans, the “associated” Eastern Neigh-
bourhood and the CARIFORUM countries. The final part of the book applies the
concept of EU value-promoting RTAs to the case of the EU-Ukraine Deep and
Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA). It suggests a number of recom-
mendations for relevant EU institutions as to strategizing the use of RTAs as a
value-promotion instrument.
The text will be of key interest to scholars, students and practitioners in the field
of EU external relations and their legal regulation, especially those focusing on
the EU trade and development policies.
Abbreviations
AA Association Agreement
AASM Associated African States and Madagascar
ACAA Agreement on Conformity Assessment and Acceptance of
Industrial Products
ACP African, Caribbean and Pacific States
AETS Institutional Strengthening Risk Managing Sustainable
Development
AfCFTA African Continental Free Trade Agreement
AG Attorney General
AMCU Anti-Monopoly Committee of Ukraine
ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations
BRICS Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa
CA Cotonou Agreement
CARDS Community Assistance for Reconstruction, Development and
Stabilization
CARICOM Caribbean Community
CARIFORUM Caribbean Forum
CBC Cross-Border Cooperation
CCP Common Commercial Policy
CEFTA Central European Free Trade Agreement
СEPS Centre for European Policy Studies (Brussels)
CETA Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement
CFR Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union
CFSP Common Foreign and Security Policy
CJEU Court of Justice of the European Union
CoE Council of Europe
COMECON Council for Mutual Economic Assistance
CRIP Caribbean Regional Indicative Programme
CSDP Сommon Security and Defense Policy
CSME Caribbean Single Market and Economy
CSO Civil Society Organization
CSP Country Strategy Paper
DCFTA Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement