Formulating the economic partnership agreement negotiating mandate : an analysis of European Union policy-making

This thesis analyses the formulation of the Economic Partnership Agreements that are under negotiation between the European Union [EU] and the African, Caribbean and Pacific group of countries [ACP]. The analysis commences with the release of the European Commission Green Paper on Relations between the European Union and the ACP Countries, published in November 1996, and analyses how political currents have shifted within the EU to form consensus for the need to reform the existing ACP-EU trading relationship. Special attention is paid to aspects that affect the Pacific members of the ACP. Utilising multi-level governance, neoinstitutionalist and multiple streams theories, the analysis argues that this policy reflects the broader European integration debate and identifies how the Commission has formulated its policy preferences to shape the policy outcome so as to entrench and extend its own competencies. Concluding the analysis at the end of the first phase of negotiation in September 2003, it is proposed that given the motivations of the Commission, the EPA negotiations may, in fact, prove to be a more favourable than many of the ACP countries presently believe