european studies centre - The Oxford-Sciences Po Research Group ...

European power in a multipolar system: How does Europe project its values,
policies and standards?
Lord Michael Jay of Ewelme, House of Lords
Laurence Whitehead, Official Fellow in Politics, Nuffield College, Oxford
Michael Jay followed up on Leonard’s challenge by elaborating how Europe could adapt
to the changing conditions. He emphasized that the values espoused and projected are
those in the preamble of the Treaty of Rome: rule of law, democracy, human rights. He
then, based on his long-standing experience in the international arena, developed upon
how others see the EU. According to him, it is a mixed picture, depending on who you
talk to and what they see us doing. In Washington, the EU has low visibility as such,
except on trade issues where the EU causes irritation, but of course high visibility of the
member states and no visibility of EU as such outside DC. In Asia, the EU is still
recognized as trading power, but also seen as an aging, uncompetitive economic bloc.
Often, countries from that region, as well as Gulf States, are interested in Europe’s role in
conflict resolution—regional groupings helping to resolve sub-regional conflicts.
Jay furthermore argued that increased economic competitiveness of the EU is essential
for its continued ability to project its values abroad.
Laurence Whitehead elaborated on the intriguing question why the EU’s non-coercive
approach worked better in Central America than in the Balkans. In the San Jose process,
the EU projected its values in a non-coercive way, it applied in its policies the principles
the EU is standing for and its willingness to stand by and support the transition towards
democracy. He then described how the ACP – EU relation projects on the ACP countries
what the EU is, e.g. how the EU Commission interacts with the ACP secretariat, despite
the low legitimacy and accountability of the ACP secretariat.
Finally, he highlighted that policies within the EU are as important as external policies,
for example immigration policy and its consequences on how non-Europeans perceive
the EU.
General overview of the debate
The challenge the project faces is to understand Europe in the light of what others look
for. We cannot seriously understand what we are standing for if we do not compare it to
what others stand for. If we follow the trend of describing our values/norms as driven by
“good” and that others have to comply –the risk is high of replicating European policies
of the 19 th century.
Furthermore, “inside” and “outside” have become increasingly blurred because
globalization challenged the disctinction between internal and external policies as well as
their meaning for different actors.
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