EU Trade Strategy and Regionalism: Assessing the Impact on Europe’s Developing Country Partners

The Andean Community (CAN) is perhaps the only regional integration scheme that has developed and evolved emulating the model and example of the European Union (EU). This chapter assesses the impact of those programs on Andean integration, after 1992, when the European Economic Community (EEC) turned into the European Union and emphasized bi-regional agreements with developing nations. This assessment is necessary in view of two recent developments: the beginning of UE-CAN negotiations for an association agreement and CAN political crisis, accelerated since Venezuela's withdrawal in April 2006, which seems to threaten it with its demise. The chapter analyzes the process of EU cooperation with CAN between 1992 and 2007. It discusses the institutional evolution of CAN along those years.