Background

Closed seas play very diverse roles in relations between their bordering states: they unite and separate. They are places of transit, a shared –sometimes disputed- space, an element of joint identity, a common heritage.

Sub-regions provide an additional arena for the European Union to interact with its closest neighbours, where sub-regional cooperation, i.e. , international cooperation between states (and sub-state governments) in geographical groups which are smaller than a continent, provides a valuable complement to the EU’s foreign policy aim of peace, stability and prosperity. 

The EU relations with its neighbourhood are an issue linked to the debates about the role of the EU as a global actor: model of governance, promoter of multilateralism, normative power or, even security power and the nature of its activities.

Objective

The Main goal of the EU4SEAS project is to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the sub-regional multilateralism (notion and practice) in the four maritime basins (Mediterranean, Baltic, Black and Caspian Seas) as a specific approach for the EU in handling relations with those spaces. EU4SEAS will examine the development of sub-regional cooperation in its specific contexts as well as the EU’s impact on it. 

Metodology

Our analysis of the effects of EU policies will be an effort to bring together different approaches in order to achieve a more holistic view. However, the project can only work as a successful research if we can find a common field and agree on an analytical framework which combines, in different aspects, the following four approaches:

• International Relations: this is the main approach, studying multilateralism at work in a regional (sea basins) context, and its interaction with Europe’s foreign policy.
• Policy Analysis: the study of both the external impact of the EU’s own policies (Schengen, environment, trade, etc) on the multilateral cooperation and the effectiveness of joint multilateral endeavours in the basins, which will rely on public policy analysis tools.
• Comparative: the comparative approach is probably the main added value of this project, which will constantly draw comparisons between basins, taking into consideration the specific situation in each of them
• Normative:  the main aim of the project is to acquire a better understanding of the interaction between the EU and these multilateral arrangements at its fringes, but a normative approach is also present, attempting to make some recommendations to the EU in relation to this topic.

The project is an interdisciplinary effort (political science, international relations, international political economy) and its methodological thrust comprises theoretical, empirical, comparative and prescriptive aspects.

Research Questions:

• What have been the main achievements and failures of sub-regional multilateralism in each basin and which practices can be transferred from one to other sea basin?
• How do EU membership and EU policies impact on multilateral cooperation around the sea basins?
• Does the EU reinforce or hamper the multilateral framework?
• How can the EU and other multilateral organisations and initiatives cooperate in achieving their shared objectives?
• What would be the benefits of a specific approach of the EU for each of the four basins?

Research Programme

1.  A detailed theoretical framework to analyze the sub-regional dimension and the interaction with the EU.
2. Empirical research focused on four areas of study:
   • Politics and Security
   • Environmental and Maritime Policy )
   • Energy and Transport
   • The Four Freedoms (free movement of goods, services, capital and people)
3. A prescriptive element, based on findings of the first two phases, including the drafting policy papers  and the detection of best practices.

Links to other research projects and transferability of knowledge

The EU4Seas project is not conceived as a totally separate research endeavour of our partnership. The project will obviously rely on the existing literature, but it will also link with other projects that, simultaneously, are exploring related issues. In particular, the EUPROX project conducted by the Observatory for European Foreign Policy in Barcelona, which analyses the impact of a number of EU policies on some of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) countries, and the project on the dimensions of ENP, based at Liverpool University, will be important points of reference with which we are going to establish a permanent interaction, since members of EU4Seas are also part of their steering bodies.

Two other research projects have been selected in the 7th Framework Programme under the heading ‘The EU and Multilateralism’, EU-GRASP and MERCURY. Both of them will run parallel to EU4SEAS exploring issues which are different but, inevitably, related. We are also committed to a final effort in summarising and contrasting our results with those of EU-GRASP and MERCURY, with a view of presenting them jointly at the end of all three seminars in a Joint Conference that will take place in Brussels in 2011.