towards Mercosur towards policy Union’s The European EPRU The European Union’s policy towards Mercosur European Series Policy This book provides a distinctive and empirically rich account of the European Research Union’s (EU’s) relationship with the Common Market of the South (Mercosur). It seeks to examine the motivations that determine the EU’s policy towards Unit Mercosur, the most important relationship the EU has with another regional Series economic integration organization. In order to investigate these motivations (or lack thereof), this study The European examines the contribution of the main policy- and decision-makers, the European Commission and the Council of Ministers, as well as the different contributions of the two institutions. It analyses the development of EU policy towards Mercosur in relation to three key stages: non-institutionalized Union’s policy relations (1986–1990), official relations (1991–1995), and the negotiations for an association agreement (1996–2004 and 2010–present). Arana argues that the dominant explanations in the literature fail to towards adequately explain the EU’s policy – in particular, these accounts tend to infer the EU’s motives from its activity. Drawing on extensive primary documents, the book argues that the major developments in the relationship were initiated by Mercosur and supported mainly by Spain. Rather than Mercosur the EU pursuing a strategy, as implied by most of the existing literature, the EU was largely responsive, which explains why the relationship is much less developed than the EU’s relations with other parts of the world. The European Union’s policy towards Mercosur will benefit academics and Responsive not strategic postgraduate students of European Union Foreign Affairs, inter-regionalism Gomez Arana and Latin American regionalism. Arantza Gomez Arana is Lecturer in Security and Criminology at Birmingham City University www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk ISBN 978-0-7190-9694-5 Arantza Gomez Arana 9 780719 096945 The European Union’ s policy towards Mercosur ffirs01.indd i 12/15/2016 12:44:13 PM European Policy Research Unit Series Series Editors: Simon Bulmer, Peter Humphreys, Andrew Geddes and Dimitris Papadimitriou The European Policy Research Unit Series aims to provide advanced textbooks and thematic studies of key public policy issues in Europe. They concentrate, in particular, on comparing patterns of national policy content, but pay due attention to the European Union dimension. The thematic studies are guided by the character of the policy issue under examination. The European Policy Research Unit (EPRU) was set up in 1989 within the University of Manchester ’ s Department of Government to promote research on European politics and public policy. The series is part of EPRU ’ s effort to facilitate intellectual exchange and substantive debate on the key policy issues confronting the European states and the European Union. Titles in the series also include: Globalisation and policy-making in the European Union Ian Bartle The Europeanisation of Whitehall Simon Bulmer and Martin Burch The agency phenomenon in the European Union: Emergence, institutionalisa- tion and everyday decision-making Madalina Busuioc, Martijn Groenleer and Jarle Trondal (eds) EU enlargement, the clash of capitalisms and the European social dimension Paul Copeland The power of the centre: Central governments and the macro-implementation of EU public policy Dionyssis G. Dimitrakopoulos Creating a transatlantic marketplace Michelle P. Egan (ed.) Immigration and European integration (2nd edn) Andrew Geddes The European Union and the regulation of media markets Alison Harcourt Children’s rights, Eastern enlargement and the EU human rights regime Ingi Iusmen Managing Europe from home: The changing face of European policy-making under Blair and Ahern Scott James The politics of fi sheries in the European Union Christian Lequesne The European Union and culture: Between economic regulation and European cultural policy Annabelle Littoz-Monnet The Eurogroup Uwe Puetter EU pharmaceutical regulation Govin Permanand Regulatory quality in Europe: Concepts, measures and policy processes Claudio M. Radaelli and Fabrizio de Francesco The European debt crisis: The Greek case Costas Simitis Unpacking international organisations: The dynamics of compound bureaucra- cies Jarle Trondal, Martin Marcussen, Torbjörn Larsson and Frode Veggeland ffirs02.indd ii 12/15/2016 12:44:14 PM The European Union’ s policy towards Mercosur Responsive not strategic Arantza Gomez Arana Manchester University Press ffirs03.indd iii 12/15/2016 12:44:15 PM Copyright © Arantza Gomez Arana 2017 The right of Arantza Gomez Arana to be identifi ed as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Published by Manchester University Press Altrincham Street, Manchester M1 7JA www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk 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 applied for ISBN 9780719096945 hardback ISBN 9781526108401 openaccess First published 2017 This electronic version has been made freely available under a Creative Commons (CC-BY- NC-ND) licence. A copy of the licence can be viewed at https://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for any external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Typeset by Toppan Best-set Premedia Limited To my parents, Marisol and Torcuato. Contents List of boxes, fi gures and tables page ix Acknowledgements xi Abbreviations xiii 1 Introduction: the study of European Union relations with Mercosur 1 2 Analytical framework: relations between the European Union and Mercosur 21 3 European Union policy-making towards Mercosur 51 4 Non-institutionalized relations between the EU and Mercosur 70 5 The most productive years of EU–Mercosur relations 108 6 The fi rst attempt to negotiate the association agreement 146 7 The second attempt to negotiate the association agreement 179 8 Lessons to be learned from the EU policy towards Mercosur 200 References 217 Index 235 Boxes, fi gures and tables Boxes 3.1 Article 133 (ex Article 113) page 57 3.2 Article 181 (ex Article 130y) 58 3.3 Article 300 (ex Article 228) 58 4.1 The European Parliament ’ s support for links with Mercosur at the political and economic level 76 4.2 European Parliament resolutions supporting the relations between the EU and Latin America 77 4.3 Final Act, Joint Declaration of Intent on the Development and Intensifi cation of Relations with the Countries of Latin America 93 4.4 Final Act Declaration by the Kingdom of Spain on Latin America 94 5.1 Options for EU–Mercosur relations 129 Figures 1.1 Timeline of development of Mercosur 17 1.2 Mercosur institutions 18 2.1 Levels of ambition 46 2.2 Levels of commitment 47 4.1 Spain and Portugal ’ s EU membership: bottom-up outcome 95 4.2 Spain and Portugal ’ s EU membership: ‘top-down’ in relation to trade 97 4.3 Level of ambition: fi rst stage 101 4.4 Level of commitment: fi rst stage 101 5.1 Level of ambition: second stage 132 5.2 Level of commitment: second stage 133 6.1 Level of ambition: third stage 171 6.2 Level of commitment: third stage 171 7.1 Level of ambition: fourth stage 195 7.2 Level of commitment: fourth stage 195 x Boxes, fi gures and tables Tables 2.1 The Europeanization process in an EU member state’ s foreign policy 42 2.2 Measurement of the dependent variable: engagement 48 2.3 Competing arguments (independent variables) and the dependent variable 49 4.1 EU exports and imports with Mercosur countries, 1980–1990 (values in US$ million) 82 4.2 Measurement of the dependent variable, engagement: fi rst stage 102 4.3 Competing arguments and the independent variables: fi rst stage 106 5.1 EU agreements with third countries/regions and their legal commitment 119 5.2 Measurement of the dependent variable, engagement: second stage 134 5.3 Competing arguments and the independent variables: second stage 135 5.4 EU cooperation with Mercosur, 1992–2000 138 5.5 EU exports and imports with Mercosur countries, 1991–1995 (values in US$ million) 140 6.1 Timeline of EU–Mercosur meetings and the evolution of the WTO 158 6.2 EU tariff-rate quotas offer, September 2004 163 6.3 Measurement of the dependent variable, engagement: third stage 172 6.4 Competing arguments and the independent variables: third stage 173 7.1 GDP of the EU and Mercosur, 2007 181 7.2 Main trading partners of Mercosur countries and the EU-27, 2012 182 7.3 Measurement of the dependent variable, engagement: fourth stage 196 7.4 Competing arguments and the independent variables: fourth stage 197 8.1 Competing arguments at the different stages 211 Acknowledgements I would like to thank everyone who has helped me to develop this mono- graph. The comments, attention to detail and help provided at different stages of the process by Professor Alasdair Young has been vital and I am extremely grateful to him. The comments of other academics, including Professor Maurizio Carbone and Dr Chad Damro and several anonymous external reviewers have also helped to shape this book during its fi nal stages. I would like to thank also the participants of the panel on this topic at the Society of Latin American Studies Conference in 2010 for their helpful and kind comments. I would like to send a special thank you to all my interviewees for being so generous with their time; I cannot mention you by name for obvious reasons but I am in debt to all of you. The fi eldwork conducted on both sides of the Atlantic has been partially supported by UACES and the Uni- versity of Glasgow, and I would like to thank those institutions.