The Delegation of Trade Authority in the EU
             Even though, for the past several decades, member states of the European Union (EU) have been derelict with their power to act as independent players in international trade negotiations, they have recently begun to recapture some of their lost trade sovereignty. (Kennett 1996) Neither the European Court of Justice 1994's opinion, nor the 1997 formal reform of trade policy process at Amsterdam delegated full negotiating power to the Commission over the so-called, new trade issues of services and intellectual property. Instead the member states accepted a hybrid form of decision-making to enable impromptu, rather than a structural, per se, delegation of jurisdiction. As such, this shows a shift in the perceived trade-off between economic interests and ideological prejudice on the part of key member states.
             The question now arises as to who speaks for Europe? History has shown that there has been a sharp difference between political and economic realms in regard to Europe. In terms of international politics, member states speak for themselves. Yet, in contrast to the international political scene, international trade in the European Community was granted exclusive competence. (Weiler 1991) Whether it is through bilateral, regional or multilateral trade negotiations, Europe communally speaks with one voice and more importantly negotiates through one agent, that being the European Commission.
             It seems as though the "single voice" regarding trade policy is more crucial now, more than ever, for Europe. The end of the cold war accelerated the shift of the focal point of competition from security to economics. Economic competition on a global scale is not based on market dynamics, but on the capacity of the states to utilize their own markets as effective negotiating pieces in global trade wars. Meanwhile, trade matters are becoming more political with the blurring of foreign...