The coherence dilemma of EU external relations: The European Asia policy

The European Union (EU) has established a highly differentiated set of external relations including trade policy, development cooperation, political dialogue and security questions. By linking the economic and political dimensions, the EU tries to be more than just an economic actor in international relations. Cooperation with third countries is based on values and criteria like human rights, democracy and the rule of law (conditionality) and a political dialogue. The problem, however, is whether the coherence of the EU's external relations is strong enough and whether the mixture of economic and political tools can be applied effectively. Looking at the empirical evidence doubts remain that they can. The imbalance between the economic and political dimension is closely linked to the divergence between the first (EC) and second (CFSP) pillar of the Treaty on European Union, between EU institutions, between the supranational and member state level, and between the member states. With regard to the EU's Asia policy the influence of these divergencies can be seen, most prominently, in the dialogue about human rights or sanctions. The paper argues that the different qualities of the economic and political dimension of EU external relations are the result of a structural coherence dilemma. It describes how the EU's relations towards Asian countries are affected. The conclusion explains why major changes towards a coherent and common Asia policy should not be expected.