The work I propose to review, La Unión Europea más allá de sus fronteras –Hacia la

The book was coordinated by Anna Herranz Surrallés, coordinator of the Observatory of

European Foreign Policy and researcher at Institut Universitari d'Estudis Europeus, who

was involved in the research project. This study also reflects the direct participation of

13 researchers, mostly lecturers at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, in addition

to other scholars such as Eduard Soler i Lecha, Programme Coordinator for the

Mediterranean at the CIDOB Foundation.

Structurally, the book is divided into seven chapters. The first is different from the

others as it explains the purpose of the work, raises the questions and identifies the

variables that define the analytical framework of the study, in addition to justifying the

criteria for choosing the case studies examined.

namely: Algeria, Morocco, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, and Turkey with regard

to each of these sectors is analysed in all chapters.

The choice of countries reflects a geographical rationale that seeks to encompass

neighbouring states from the east and south. But it also aims to account for the

different postures of neighbouring states towards the EU, since it includes a state that

is the process of accessing the EU - Turkey -, countries that aspire to eventually join

(p. 33).

International Context

The authors of La Unión Europea más allá de sus fronteras frame this research study

within the current context of international power structure, of a multipolar nature,

where the EU has been losing influence, hand in hand with the emergence of a Sino-

American G-2 leadership. However, from the outset, this study draws attention to the

fact that that the neo-realist interpretation, by assigning polarity exclusively to states,

becomes reductive when applied to the EU, since its characteristics as a power are not

associated with its nature but with the recognition of its action as a power. Rather, the

Based on this multilateral framework and the EU’s loss of influence, and in the

knowledge that the EU's ambition is, since 2001 with the Laeken Declaration, to play

the role of global actor (power), the authors raise the question: is the European Union

a "normative regional hegemony" (p. 17), in which its action involves a type of

"bilateralism as practiced in its European Neighbourhood Policy that is nothing else but

one way of hiding the unilateralism that marks the EU's relations with its neighbours"

(p. 18), or is it a" normative power "whose foreign policy is based on " universal

principles and values more than on material interests" (p. 21)?

What regulatory convergence?

promotion of regional security, focusing mainly on the strategy adopted to establish

relations with its neighbouring states in the east and south.

This is the starting point for the major analysis in the study: in its aim to bring together

distinct institutional, legal and political systems, which convergence strategy does the

Union promote? Are the EU's relations with its neighbours asymmetric, whereby the

latter undergo a process of Europeanization and are subject to the interests and

convergence between the EU and its neighbours - coordination, Europeanization,

internationalization" (p. 18). The case studies used in this analysis, which, must be

stressed, sets a double comparison in thematic and geographical terms, allow us to

empirically identify which model was applied in each situation and why.

Thus, besides the convergence model described as Europeanization, which involves the

partial or full adoption of EU legislation - the case of Turkey in its accession process -

there are two types of convergence: international and bilateral. Generally, the authors

see the international model when the "politics of convergence is based on standards

to adapt to the situation in question" (p. 25).

Given that, according to the book, the transfer of the EU acquis to its neighbours is just

one of three possibilities for delineating a process of policy convergence, then it is

necessary to understand which variables – which the authors refer to as independent –

influence the choice of the convergence model according to which the European Union's

relationship with each of its neighbouring states will be based.

These independent variables are the EU's bargaining power and the mutual perception

of legitimacy by the neighbouring state. The bargaining power of the European Union

refers to "its ability to provide sufficient incentives or disincentives (economic or

political sanctions, for example), to neighbouring countries so that they adopt the

constructivist approach that advocates the adoption of new standards by an actor

whenever these are deemed appropriate to the social context of that actor. In turn, this

variable is influenced by "i) degree of identification of the neighbouring country with the

Union as a community to be part of, independently of the fact this has been recognized

by the Union or not, ii) the authority which the neighbouring country attaches to the

European Union as a promoter of norms and iii) if the process of setting convergence

standards is seen by the neighbouring country as being unilateral or a result of proper

consultation with relevant actors in neighbouring countries "(p. 28).

Consequently, the choice of convergence model that is most appropriate to each

situation depends on the relationship established between the model in question and

these independent variables. In the light of these factors, the authors define three

working hypotheses for the choice of convergence model, stating that the convergence

comprehensive than the EU’s. However, it also implies a strong sense of legitimacy of

finally, it is suggested that the least invasive and more legitimate model, from the

viewpoint of the neighbouring state, is the model for convergence of standards

developed on a bilateral basis. This model - coordination - is used when the EU's

bargaining power and perceived legitimacy are low and generally reflects "a balanced

This combination of factors - models of convergence, independent variables, subject

areas, and neighbouring states - shows how difficult it is to establish the convergence

model to be adopted beforehand. Furthermore, we are shown that each of the different

convergence models corresponds to distinct impacts and modes of interaction.

Accordingly, the various examples drawn from case studies become confusing for those

who seek to establish a set of pre-set rules for implementing each convergence

method.

In Chapter III, for example, which focuses on energy issues, the authors demonstrate

that, although the primary convergence model is done in accordance with European

standards (often due to an international normative vacuum), acceptance of those

European standards does not imply immediate Europeanization, rather a "selective and

gradual reform" (p. 82) in the energy sectors of the countries examined.

The specific case of Algeria shows that only 5% of the relations with the EU are made

by convergence through Community rules (p. 177), and that standards negotiated

bilaterally have a strong prevalence. On the contrary, it is demonstrated that in

countries where the European Union’s bargaining power is higher, as in the case of