The European Union (EU) is being portrayed as a declining power that is struggling to remain relevant as crises mount. The EU has since its founding been frail militarily, lacking a common army. Its economic dynamism is waning and growth declining. The lingering effects of the Euro crisis have further weakened the public’s confidence in the European project. Aggravating these structural challenges, the EU is now facing new threats and pressures stemming from an assertive Russia, terrorism, refugee crises, the rise of economic populism and the impending departure of the United Kingdom from the EU.
 
This presentation will put forward an alternative view of the EU's role in the world. Notwithstanding all its challenges, the EU remains an influential superpower that has the ability to shape the world. The persistent narrative of the EU’s weakness overlooks an important dimension of power that affirms the continuing relevance of the EU and that remains unaffected by the crises—the EU’s unilateral power to regulate global markets. The EU today sets the rules and standards according to which products are built and business is conducted, in Europe and beyond. In this way, the EU wields significant, unique, and highly penetrating power to unilaterally transform global markets, be it through its ability to set the standards in food safety, chemicals, antitrust, environmental protection, the protection of privacy or hate speech online.
 
Though international cooperation may, indeed, be in crisis, the Brussels Effect shows how we can continue to generate international rules to govern global markets even in the absence of multilateral cooperation.

Speaker:

• Anu Bradford, Professor of Law and International Organization at Columbia Law School

Discussant:

• Wainer Lusoli, EU Senior Fellow in residence at the Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy

A light sandwich lunch will be served as 12.15

This event is part of the Global Governance Colloquium series.