Abstract
What are the philosophical, political, legal and institutional bases for Europe's economic relations with the rest of the world? How have they developed over time, as Europe has moved from the narrow, sectoral basis of the recently defunct European Coal and Steel Community (“ECSC”), to the radical innovation of the European Economic Community (“EEC”), which itself has become part of the wider, politically even more ambitious integrationist structure of the European Union (“EU”), now itself on the verge of a radical expansion of its size? Does today's EU have as much or less in common with the ECSC as a fifty-year-old adult has with the gangling teenager that he once was? This is not a compendium or even semi-exhaustive description of the vast topic called “the EU's external economic relations,” nor is it an attempt to claim that it is “better” or more open than those adopted by other major trading Nations (although I will gladly stake out such a claim in other contexts). Having gratefully received an invitation to write this Essay, I have instead chosen to explore a number of key themes, which are part of my daily preoccupations as a practitioner of EU trade policy.
Recommended Citation
Mogens Peter Carl,
From Common Market to European Union: The New Europe's Place in the Trading World,
26 Fordham Int'l L.J. 36
(2002).
Available at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/ilj/vol26/iss1/3