The EU Preferential Trade Agreements: Defining Priorities for a Debt-Ridden, Growth-Starving EU

摘要

The EU severe debt problem requires urgently the design and implementation of domestic pro-growth reform agendas in Europe. Opening markets to foreign competitors has always been a way to boost and buttress such agendas. A “Sleeping Doha” Round leaves preferential trade agreements (PTAs) as the only channel for opening markets to foreign competition. In this context, this paper examines two questions: do the PTAs currently negotiated by the EU fit well the EU quest for growth? If not, what would be the appropriate PTAs?