Principles and practices of EU external representation - Asser Institute

CLEER WORKING PAPERS 2012/5Wouters, Van Kerckhoven and OdermattThe second part deals with the relationship between the G20 and the EU.The G20 process and its decisions have a strong influence on decisions takenat the European level. The EU has been one of the best students of the G20class in following up on G20 decisions. This allows the EU to move faster internally:when a regulatory issue is elevated to the G20 level and agreed there,opposition from EU Member States is often made much more difficult. The EUand the G20 thus have the potential to further each other’s agendas. Coordinatingthe response to the crisis through the G20 and its associated bodies(e.g. the Financial Stability Board) has often benefited the EU, which has beenable to successfully put its proposals on the G20’s agenda. The EU also implementsmany of the commitments made at the G20, which further enhances itsvoice within that body. The present contribution examines both sides of thisinteraction.2. EU representation at the G20Since the financial crisis of 2008, the G20 has emerged as the premier forumfor international economic cooperation. 1 Since then, it has increasingly evolvedinto a key global playmaker. 2 This however has not always sat well with thetraditional organizations to which the G20 delegates assignments. In relationto the OECD, for example, the G20 bypassed the OECD formal decisionmakingprocess when it drafted its grey list on tax havens. 3 The question weseek to address here is how the relationship between the G20 as a global ‘club’and the EU as the most prominent regional organization has evolved. In particular,we address whether both organizations are rather complementary orrivals and how exactly these organizations have influenced each other.Let us first look at the representation of the EU at the G20. European interestsare represented both directly through the EU’s membership of the G20and, to a certain extent, indirectly through the membership of some of its MemberStates. The UK, France, Germany, Italy are full members while Spain andthe Netherlands have been regularly invited to G20 meetings. The EU is thesole non-state actor which received a seat at the table of the twenty ‘mostsignificant economies’. 4 The EU is both over- and under-represented in the1 G20 Leaders Pittsburgh Summit Declaration 24-25 September 2009, para. 50.2 J. Wouters, S. Sterckx and T. Corthaut, ‘The International Financial Crisis, Global FinancialGovernance and the European Union’, in A. Antoniadis, R. Schuetze, E. Spaventa (eds.), The EuropeanUnion and Global Emergencies: Law and Policy Analysis, Oxford: Hart Publishing (2011),141, at 147. However, some authors already argue that the G20 has served its purpose andshould be replaced, see J. Vestergaard and R.H. Wade, ‘The G20 has Served its Purpose andShould be Replaced’, 2(2) Journal of Globalization and Development (2012) at 18 ; J.A. Ocampoand J.E. Stiglitz, ‘From the G20 to a Global Economic Coordination Council,’ 2(2) Journal of Globalizationand Development (2012) at 16.3 See J. Wouters and S. Van Kerckhoven, ‘The OECD and the G20: an Ever Closer Relationship?’43(2) George Washington International Law Review (2011) at 345.4 G20, ‘The Group of Twenty: a History’ (2008) Retrieved at http://www.g20.utoronto.ca/docs/g20history.pdf.128