Achieving Ambitious Positions in Multilateral Chemicals Negotiations: How does the European Union influence the Negotiation Outcomes?

This paper explains the influence of the European Union (EU) in multilateral negotiations. Focusing on the Basel Convention, this paper studies two issues negotiated at the Conference of the Parties 2019. Comparing two cases, it provides explanations for the EU’s high influence in the negotiations on the management of plastic waste and its low influence in the negotiations on low Persistent Organic Pollutant (POP) content values. Using process-tracing, the paper maps the EU’s diplomatic activities from the EU’s initial position to the outcome of the negotiations. Two separate causal mechanisms outline the differences between the cases of high and low EU influence. Data is collected through interviews, observations and official documents. The paper shows that in the plastic waste negotiations, the EU engaged more strongly in diplomatic activities as it defended a high-ambition, high-flexible position. In that case, the EU was highly influencing the negotiations. However, the EU defended a low-ambition, inflexible position on low POP content values, downscaled its diplomatic activities and did not manage to influence the outcome