Globalization or Europeanization of Regulatory Politics? the EU-WTO Relationship in Public Procurement Policy

The growing literature on the European Union (EU) as a global economic actor has offered valuable insights, both theoretically and empirically, on the mechanisms and pathways through which the Union seeks to achieve its objectives. This paper moves the debate further and instead of how this happens, seeks to provide answers to the “why” of the Union’s economic engagement. We do that by exploring the role of the EU at the World Trade Organization (WTO).

By use of a theoretical approach focusing on regulatory politics, we engage with that question through the prism of the EU-WTO relationship in the field of public procurement policy (government procurement). This approach allows us to re-politicize the economic role of the EU in global affairs. Employing a qualitative research methodology and relying on more than 15 interviews with EU, WTO and interest groups, the paper sheds new light to an underdeveloped research area. We argue that the EU is actively co-shaping the global agenda on public procurement due to its advantageous position compared to other large states or regional organizations. This advantage stems from a) its regulatory capacity b) the Single Market and c) its pioneering role in sustainable public procurement (SPP) practices.