Ordoliberalizing the Neighbourhood? The EU's Promotion of Regulatory Reforms in Egypt

Abstract

While the EU has long been promoting economic reforms in neighbouring countries, scant attention has hitherto been paid to its regulatory efforts. This paper addresses this empirical gap with reference to the EU's promotion of regulatory reforms in three economic sectors in Egypt: agriculture, banking and telecoms. It finds that these reforms are significantly, if selectively, informed by ordoliberal principles and practices. Two theoretical implications of this finding are explored. On the one hand, while this substantiates the institutional isomorphism hypothesis, for which the EU tends to export its own models elsewhere, the selectivity with which this occurs demonstrates greater instrumentality than usually maintained in this literature. On the other hand, understanding ordoliberalism as a variation within the neoliberal template shaping restructuring in Egypt, this paper moves beyond binary views of regulatory co‐operation and competition and thus also enriches debates on the EU as a global regulator.

Growth and convergence in Eastern Partnership and Central Asian countries since the dissolution of the USSR—embarking on different development paths?

“…Bergman and Varga (2018) pointed out that the terms of association between the EU and its neighbours had been attractive for the ENP states because they provided incentives to trade, innovation and know-how, among other positives, in the partner countries, coupled with the gradual adoption of the EU acquis. For instance, İşleyen (2014) argues that the twinning programme has been a successful tool for the EU to introduce market principles into the individual and institutional practices developed in Tunisia and Egypt, while Roccu (2018) underscores the importance of the EU's promotion of regulatory reforms in the neighbouring countries and shows how the EU's regulatory externalities have positively impacted three economic sectors: agriculture, banking and telecoms. Similarly, Di Guardo et al (2016) show the probability of doing business deals between the EU and the neighbouring countries (particularly in the field of mergers and acquisitions) to be proportional to the existing cultural, political and spatial distances.…”

Borderlands

“…First, it excludes agriculture from full trade liberalization (with the US adopting a similar policy in practice). Second, instead of full market deregulation that is typical of mainstream neoliberalism, Europe tends to support the reregulation (and not the deregulation) of markets, according to an ordoliberal tradition (Roccu 2018a).¹² A third inconsistency regards the strictly bilateral nature of EU trade policy (Hunt 1999).…”

“…While the adoption of international banking standards in Egypt was the main objective, EU-funded training activities conspicuously promoted European rules and practices to achieve this aim. Incidentally, these reforms also served to facilitate the circulation of European capital (Roccu 2015;2018a;2018b). Similarly, EU-supported reforms to liberalize the Egyptian telecommunications sector sought to advance European regulations while facilitating investment-thereby also entrenching the strong position of European telecom operators in Egypt such as the French Orange and the UKbased Vodafone (Roccu 2015;2018a;2018b).…”

L’hybridation des systèmes institutionnels nationaux dans l’interdépendance. Les échanges gaziers UE-Russie

“…Les questions de transit, de réformes organisationnelles (unbundling de Gazprom), de prix sont au coeur des négociations du partenariat discuté à partir de 2000 entre l'UE et la Russie.6 L'expression est employée par R Roccu (2018). pour décrire la stratégie de promotion de réformes réglementaires par l'UE dans les pays de la rive sud de la Méditerranée.…”