EU trade policy review

After the blog entry EU trade ministers ponder comatose WTO Doha Development Round, followed by two posts in Swedish, Vill EU bryta dödläget i WTO:s Doharunda? and EU:s nya handelspolitik i Europa 2020-strategin, we leave the European Parliament debates for a while in order to explore the the basic documents for the common commercial policy of the European Union.


EU trade policy review

In November 2010 the Commission published the communication COM(2010) 612, available in 22 official EU languages. The English version:

Trade, Growth and World Affairs: Trade Policy as a core component of the EU's 2020 strategy; Brussels, 9.11.2010 COM(2010) 612 final (22 pages)

One of the two accompanying documents was an assessment of the EU's policy of international economic relations:

COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT: Report on progress achieved on the Global Europe strategy, 2006-2010; Brussels, 9.11.2010 SEC(2010) 1268 final (23 pages)


Global Europe communication

In other words, the assessment concerned the 2006 communication Global Europe and subsequent actions:

GLOBAL EUROPE: COMPETING IN THE WORLD: A Contribution to the EU's Growth and Jobs Strategy; Brussels, 4.10.2006 COM(2006) 567 final (18 pages)


2010 lessons

The progress report SEC(2010) 1268 reviewed main trade policy actions until well into 2010, beyond the adoption of the Europe 2020 strategy (EU2020). Thus, the report can be read as fairly recent history of the EU's economic relations.

The Commission evaluated that (page 21):

Notwithstanding the progress made since 2006 in accomplishing the Global Europe agenda, important experiences have been acquired and lessons learned, which will feed into the EU’s future trade strategy.

Ralf Grahn


Addition 27 September 2011: Actually this series on trade started with a post in Finnish: EU:n kauppapolitiikka valokeilassa maanantaina 26.9.2011.