The Domestic Dimension of EU External Policies: The Case of the EU–Morocco 2000–01 Fisheries Negotiations

Abstract

One of the difficulties of studying European foreign policy is establishing what should be analysed as its domestic dimension. Intergovernmentalist accounts, focusing on the bargaining among member states’ executives, prevail over multi-level analyses which also study European institutions, non-governmental actors and sub-national governments. This article focuses on the formation of the EU position in the negotiations with Morocco for a fisheries agreement in 2000–01. In those negotiations, very specific fisheries interests prevailed over general foreign policy considerations in the relationship with a privileged EU partner. A multi-level analysis helps us understand how narrow interests succeed in gaining priority over strategic considerations in the formulation of European foreign policy.

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Notes on contributors

Jordi Vaquer I Fanés

Jordi Vaquer i Fanés is a Ph.D. candidate and occasional teacher in the Department of International Relations, London School of Economics and Political Science. The author would like to thank the interviewees for their time and co-operation with his research, and the two anonymous reviewers for their useful comments. This article would not have been possible without the financial help of the Batista i Roca Scholarship of the Catalan government