EU's Trade Policy

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EU's Trade Policy Towards Developing Countries Is Most Liberal Where Poor Countries Can Least Compete And Most Restrictive In Areas They Could Best Compete In?03

‘The EU’s Trade Policy Towards Developing Countries is Most Liberal Where Countries Are Least Competitive and Most Restrictive Where Poor Countries Could Best Compete.’ Explain and Comment

From its inception the EU was essentially about trade and the European state’s empire- building past led to trade preferences being sought for particular former colonies. The accession of the UK into the EU in 1973 further exacerbated the issue and led to the first Lome Convention being signed ‘to recognise the former Commonwealth less developed countries (LDCs)’ and replace the Yanode Convention, which had mainly ‘benefited ex French colonies’ (McDonald & Deraden, 1999: 334). The signing of Lome I led to ‘both sides claiming it was qualitatively different from anything that had gone before’ and a step in the direction of ‘a New International Economic Order’ that would make developed and developing countries ‘equal partners’ Stevens 1984 (George & Bache, 2001: 388). With hindsight we can see that Lome I and its successors did not live up to their hype and the Treaty of the European Union recognised this when it cautiously stated the EU’s objectives as being ‘to foster sustainable economic and social development in the world’s poorest countries’ and to ‘promote their smooth and gradual integration into the global economy’ (Dinan, 1999:504). The EU faces the difficulty of promoting its member states interests and industries whilst supporting LDCs economies and the results of the Lome Conventions and the General System of Preferences (GSP) has been varied.

Generally Lome 1 was regarded as ‘inadequate’ and criticised for ‘falling short of what African Caribbean and Pecific (ACP) states had hoped for’ (George & Bache, 2001: 389). Galtung arg...