Description
This article introduces a new conceptual framework – Co-Power Europe (CPE) – to analyse the European Union’s (EU) external policies. Using the case study of trade and sustainable development chapters (TSD) in the EU’s preferential trade agreements with third countries, it addresses two key shortcomings identified in the literature: the EU’s persistent reluctance to accord TSD chapters equal status with trade liberalising provisions, and the lack of shared ownership felt by many trade partners towards these chapters. While these shortcomings are well known, they have not led to a broader rethinking in mainstream research and policy. Drawing on insights from decentring scholarship, development studies and earth system governance literature, the CPE framework advances a more holistic, reflexive and collaborative approach to TSD. It proposes three key dimensions for assessing the EU’s external policy: (1) openness and reflexivity in the negotiations, (2) mutuality in implementation that resists hierarchical dynamics, and (3) a problem-solving approach to dispute settlement focused on addressing concrete challenges rather than reinforcing compliance-based divisions. Relying on elite interviews with EU and trade partner officials, as well as negotiation records, the findings suggest that the EU’s rigid, template-driven approach and its confinement of TSD negotiations within a single chapter, rather than allowing for cross-chapter concessions, challenge the legitimacy and effectiveness of these chapters. In an increasingly complex, fragmented and multipolar world, rethinking the EU’s external policy is essential, and embracing its potential as a co-power offers a pathway toward more legitimate and thereby effective global engagement.
