The European union and the third world: The case of the EU-ASEAN relations

Résumé du document

The European Union is a growing and developing organization which is becoming more and more important. That's why its relations with other countries in a more and more globalized world are also moving. The EU relations with the developing world are as old as its creation but they have undoubtedly evolved since the Treaty of Rome in 1957. Internal and external factors are responsible for most of the evolution: the enlargement notably brings new concerns and the EU is affected by the international impact. The relations with the Third World always have to be redefined.
But the first concern is to define the "Third World". What and where exactly is it? What are the adopted criteria: geography, economy performance, political regime, poverty, etc? Obviously, the definition shouldn't take into account a single criterion, which could reveal its inadequacy. A classification by incomes seems to be useful but not sufficient, because it does not reveal necessarily the development situation of the country. Certainly the Human Development Index (HDI), which is still imperfect but offers a new perspective, has to be observed as giving a better assessment of "development".

Extraits

[...] It has to be improved, notably in the domain of complementarity, where much still remains to be done. The objective is to fix reachable goals. The development policy forms an important aspect of the European Union's international role and should be conceptualized considering a broader purpose to establish a single foreign policy international presence. Without external achievements such as relations with the Third World, the idea of European Union as an international actor linking united countries is undoubtedly diminished. Bibliography E. [...]

[...] Whereas the World Trade Organization (WTO) wants to advocate a uniform global free trade, the EU shows a fragmented policy structured with a proliferation of free trade arrangements with different groups of countries (such as MERCOSUR). The Lomé agreements in April 1976 are representative of that kind of relations. They enabled to provide a new framework of cooperation between the European Union (then European Community) and developing African Caribbean and Pacific countries, allowing them to enter the European “free of duty” and granting them aid and investments. But these agreements with the developing countries are once again not totally disinterested. [...]

[...] After this quite long introduction which enabled to put the subject in its context, we'll now focus on Asia, and more particularly on ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations), created in Bangkok in 1967 and gathering now ten Asian countries (Myanmar, Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Brunei, Laos, Malaysia, The Philippines). In 1980, the EC-ASEAN Economic and Commercial Cooperation Agreement structured a region- to-region agreement. Then, the relation has changed and has particularly intensified for several years. To what extent can the EU relations with ASEAN be representative of the EU involvement in development policy, that is to say: Has the EU concretely achieved its conception and goals as an international development actor in Asia? [...]

[...] The European development policy is a common realization based on conventions (Lomé, Cotonou), debates, implementations and cooperation with NGOs. But the notion of “complementarity” (related to coherence, coordination and consistency among European countries) tries to dominate this Third World policy with mixed success. Broadcasting values As a normative power, the EU tries to help the Third World countries peacefully and broadcasting values. The key word in that domain is conditionality. This conditionality, which constitutes a central characteristic of the EU policy and is not applied only in that domain, has two aspects : there is a political and an economic conditionality. [...]

[...] The EU-ASEAN relationship has transformed and developed for some decades. It's an example of what can the EU development policy be, shaped by internal EU motivations and external globalisation. Indeed, if the EU policy that has been implemented there first appears as a regular development policy according to the European Union, the reality isn't so idyllic, because of self interests and both global and domestic pressures. It's obvious that some challenges remain for future, and notably fostering a more united and coherent action for development, graduating ASEM from its symbolic origins, strengthening ties that can enable to resist globalisation and EU enlargement changes, and above all managing to impose some values as important as Human Rights. [...]