Strategic Autonomy Through External Differentiation

Abstract

The EU engages extensively with states surrounding the Union. Since its inception, the EU has been successful in creating a network of agreements and institutional relationships with other states, whether they are potential new members of the Union or not. Non-members have been invited to participate in the EU’s internal market; to participate in various decentralised agencies; or to enter trade, partnership, or association agreements with the Union. These are all parts of what we have previously referred to as the “broader area” of European foreign and security policy. While Chapter 4 explored EU cooperation with third countries in relation to security and defence, this chapter takes a broader perspective on EU foreign and security policy, looking instead at EU-third country cooperation in a wider variety of policy fields. Building on the framework presented in Chapter 2, it explores DI beyond the Union, and how the EU and European states together, through a wider network of European cooperation and DI, are contributing to increased European strategic autonomy. As far as vertical differentiation, also known as “deepening,” is concerned with the formal member states and the transfer of power from the national to the European level of governance, this is of limited relevance to a discussion of deeper integration between the EU core and non-members. Horizontal DI, or “widening,” however, is concerned with the territorial and normative expansion of EU policies, and is therefore of greater relevance. The discussion below looks at both bilateral and multilateral agreements between the EU and various associated non-members, among them the EFTA states, the UK, Turkey and other candidate countries, as well as institutional frameworks and membership of non-EU members in various decentralised agencies.