Společná obchodní politika EU v kontextu fungování WTO

Abstract

International trade is one of the major driving forces behind the development of the world economy. Trade relations between countries and regions can often become the core of foreign relations and it is no surprise that international trade relations tend to have considerable influence on the situation of power division in the world. For this reason, the question of the world trade order has been an important issue in the debate on international relations developments for some time. The aim in the international trade arena is to establish a multilateral trading system based on gradual trade liberalization through the removal of trade barriers. Achieving the goals of trade liberalization and harmonization of trade rules worldwide requires the coordination of the process at the supranational level. World Trade Organization is an international organization of more than 150 countries and customs territories focusing its activity towards softening trade rules and reducing number of tariff and non-tariff trade barriers. The European Union is an association of 27 European countries acting together in trade relations with third countries and commits itself to promote open and fair trade with all trading partners within its common commercial policy. Both the European Union and the World Trade Organization share and follow the idea of fair trade without barriers. The European Union is committed to act in accordance with the principles arising from its membership in the WTO and therefore it is expected that the European Union will implement trade policy that will not be in conflict with trade rules agreed in the World Trade Organization agreements. However, there is question arising - to what extent the common commercial policy of the European Union can be considered as independent in view of its membership in the World Trade Organization. In order to assess the level of influence of the WTO on the creation of the EU common commercial policy there are two case studies presented - two of the disputes between the European Union and other WTO members solved through the WTO dispute settlement mechanism. In both cases the World Trade Organization concluded that there the European Union did violate trade rules. While in the first case, the European Union finally adjusted its trade policy in order to be coherent with internationally accepted trade rules, in the second case, the European Union decided not to change its trade policy despite the fact of facing sanctions for disobeying. Based on the gathered findings it would not be correct to reject the hypothesis of the existing influence of the World Trade Organizations on the common commercial policy of the European Union, as there can be observed a certain degree of independence of the European Union trade policy-making.