Microcredit and EU Cohesion Policy

After nearly four years of the most serious financial and economic crisis Europe has seen in 80 years, most EU Member States are facing high budget deficits, growing public debts, while most entrepreneurs are facing difficulties in accessing finance due to the credit crunch. Meanwhile there are more than 23 million unemployed in the EU and unemployment rates have reached an average of 10% and more than 20% in Greece and Spain1. Microcredit can provide an answer to the employment challenges caused by the current economic crisis and to reach the 75% employment target rate set in the Europe 2020 strategy.

The European Commission and International Trade Negotiations: A Principal-Agent Approach. IES WORKING PAPER 2/2011

Starting from the concept of delegation of power in external trade policy, this paper aims to investigate the dynamics surrounding the European Union’s position in international trade negotiations. The analysis centres on the role of the European Commission (the agent), which by means of Treaty-based delegation and as mandated by the Council (the principal) acts as the sole trade negotiator in the international sphere on behalf of the European Union (EU). The broader negotiating process is thus conceptualised as a threelevel game, where the Commission holds an intermediary position between the European and international levels and also interacts with the Member States in the Council. After an insight into the European decision-making process for external trade, the paper further analyses the Commission’s role during the multilateral trade negotiations of the Doha Development Round. By applying the principal-agent theory to international trade negotiations in general, and subsequently to the controversial agricultural negotiations, this paper seeks to investigate some of the potential sources of autonomy that the Commission can draw upon while upholding an EU position at the international level, in addition to the “hardball” job of balancing the interests of the Member States with those of World Trade Organisation (WTO) partners. Along these lines, the paper finally aims to contribute to the literature concerning agency autonomy in EU external trade relations but also to provide a better understanding of inter-institutional relations within the EU as they may unfold in practice.