The European Union as Trade Actor and Environmental Activist: Contradictory Roles?

Charlotte Bretherton () and John Vogler
Additional contact information
Charlotte Bretherton: Liverpool John Moores University, Postal: Sohool of Social Science, Liverpool John Moores University,, Henry Cotton Campus, 15-21 Webster Street, Liverpool, L3 2ET, England.
John Vogler: Liverpool John Moores University, Postal: Liverpool John Moores University

Journal of Economic Integration, 2000, vol. 15, 163-194

Abstract: The European Union has increasigly become an actor in its own right in the politics of the international economy. By virtue of its Common Commercial Policy it has always been a formidable trade policy actor, but over the last twen - ty years the EC has also developed extensive environmental policy competences and the Union has aspired to a leadership role in negotiations on global sus - tainability. This article describes the complex and multifaceted character of the EU as an external trade and environmental policy actor. It then considers cases where the two roles complement or contradict each other including; the Committee on Trade and Environment of the WTO, the Basel Convention, ‘leghold traps’, and the Biosafety Protocol for genetically modified organisms. The article concludes that, while disputes within the Union tend to be resolved in favour of trade interests, policy on the latter has been significantly influ - enced by the Union’s newer concern with environmental sustainability. (JEL Classifications: F13)

Keywords: European Union; Trade; environment; Competences; World Trade Oganization; International actors (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2000
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ris:integr:0129

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Economic Integration is currently edited by Seongeun Kim

More articles in Journal of Economic Integration from Center for Economic Integration, Sejong University Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Yunhoe Kim ().