QUO VADIS EXTERNAL TRADE POLICY OF THE EUROPEAN UNION? EXPORTING ITS OWN VALUES OR BEING A POINT- GUARD WITHIN THE MULTILATERAL TRADING SYSTEM?

European Union (EU) has a very distinctive status within the multilateral trading system and thus is found worthwhile to examine in many respects. It has been not only a prominent actor and a contributor of the multilateral trading system since the fundamentals of the system were set by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) but also the chief executer of its own preferential trade relations compatible with the GATT and its successor, World Trade Organization (WTO). External trade policy has always been one of the privileged common policies of the EU and commitment to the multilateral trading system has constituted the


Introduction
The multilateral trading system which had been figured out via GATT until 1995 and then via WTO, its successor, has been serving as a legitimate framework not only for the commodities and services trade but also for the trade related aspects of intellectual property rights. As of 2018, the WTO has 164 member countries from all over the world regardless of their diverse economic and political structures. The founding fathers of today's EU were the signatories of the GATT in 1947. Along with taking part within the multilateral trading system, the system itself paved the way to these six-founding fathers to establish an economic integration. Since then, the EU has been acting within the multilateral trading system on behalf of its member states. However, the EU has been going in full sail towards new-age partnerships within its new external trade policy since the deadlock of the DDA. Since newage partnership initiatives have gained momentum, the narratives on their compatibility with the multilateral trading system has become a contentious issue.

EU within the Multilateral Trading System
The EU has always been a unique example of an economic integration which has also been participating within the multilateral trading system as a prominent actor. The roots of the multilateral trading system were planted by the GATT. After experiencing two catastrophic world wars, the European countries together with the United States (US) decided to establish a new international economic order. This new international economic order was figured out at the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944. The participant countries decided to give financial and technical assistance to the vulnerable economies that exposed to the II.
World War via reconstruction and development bank, known as the World Bank. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was agreed to be the responsible institution for the wellfunctioning of the fixed exchange rate system. Moreover, an international organization which would be in charge of the multilateral trading system was decided to be established. Except for the International Trade Organization (ITO), the other international organizations were established to take part within this new international economic order. Upon the failure of the ITO initiative, the countries signed the GATT in 1947, referred to GATT 1947 so as to provide the rules of the multilateral trading system. The fundamental attitude of the GATT 1947 was to design the new international economic order based on free trade which depends on comparative advantage (Pischel, 2001: 105). The WTO which was established in 1995 and has taken the rules and the responsibilities of the multilateral trading system. The WTO not only covers the multilateral trading system on the commodities participated by GATT 1994 but also the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) as well as a Dispute Settlement Mechanism. However, it should be remarked that the WTO has not replaced the GATT as a whole because the GATT is still in force in laying the foundations of the multilateral trade in goods. Along with the establishment of the WTO, the GATT has become the strongest pillar of the WTO acknowledged as GATT 1994.

Compliance of the EU with the Multilateral Trading System
The multilateral trading system has been inducing and monitoring freer trade on the basis of non-discrimination, transparency, fair competition and encouragement of development and economic reform (WTOa). At a first glance, the establishment of the EU might be regarded as a contradiction with the non-discrimination principle of the multilateral trading system. Nevertheless, provided some conditions, the system enables exceptions for

Status of the EU within the Multilateral Trading System
The status of the EU within the multilateral trading system had been evolved. When the GATT was signed in 1947, the founding fathers of the EU were the sovereign contracting parties of the multilateral trading system. Nevertheless, over the time, the European Commission has acquired the status of a contracting party on behalf of the EU in trade issues (Bourgeois, 2000: 71

EU within the Multilateral Trading System: GATT 1947 Years
The founding members of the EU have been the active participants of the multilateral trading system since the entering into force of GATT in 1948. However, it should be remarked that the EU was not a contracting party by itself at the GATT 1947 process until it has gained a legal status and has become an international organization with the birth of its successor, WTO.
Actually, the origins of the Among the promotion of cooperation for the economic recovery of Europe and related collaboration aims, there were goals of reducing tariffs and non-tariff restrictions for the expansion of trade. As such, the OEEC was not only a part of the multilateral trading system but also a basis of the European integration. Even though, the OEEC worked in conjunction with the GATT 1947 in reducing the impediments on the free movement of goods, its success was very limited (Urwin, 1991: 21). In other words, free trade distortions maintained at the OEEC times.
The founding members of the EU were also taking part at the OEEC which became the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) afterwards. Thus, at the beginning of the 1950s, the six founding members were actively participating within the GATT and laying the foundations of a deeper economic integration alongside the OEEC experience.
In the early years of GATT 1947, the internal interests of the EU dominated the EU's acts and behaviors within the multilateral trading system. The EU's multilateral trading position was shaped by its internal trade priorities. Thus, conflicting interests were appeared within the multilateral trading system. It should be acknowledged that most of the EU's controversies within the multilateral trading system was arising due to the trade conflicts between the EU and the US. In the early years of GATT 1947, trade restrictions became one of the main controversies between the EU and the US. In 1950s, both parts could not agree on the balance of trade concessions because both sides preferred the protectionist status quo (Dür, 2008: 655).
Moreover, the US exporters were worrying about a probable trade diversion effect of the establishment of the EU. According to Piquet, Kreinin and Benoit, the US exports of electrical and industrial machinery, machine tools, certain chemicals and cars would likely suffer from trade diversion (Piquet, 1958: 133;Kreinin, 1959: 618;Benoit, 1961: 172). This so-called neo-mercantilist attitude of the EU has been more or less tolerated by the US.
However, the same tolerance was not given when the matter comes to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the EU. The CAP was one of the most protectionist policies of Consequently, the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations which was started in 1996 finalized in 1994, giving birth to an international organization, the WTO, responsible from the wellfunctioning of the multilateral trading system.

EU within the Multilateral Trading System: WTO Years
The WTO was born after an eight years of birth pangs at the Uruguay Round of trade and developing counterparts whose demands were mostly rejected by the Northern.
Moreover, the Southern countries did not accept a deal which they regarded unfavorable and The Cancun Ministerial Conference has constituted a stumbling stone for the multilateral trading system from two important aspects. The first aspect is that the everincreasing crisis on the legitimacy of the WTO was explicitly revealed for the first time at the Cancun Ministerial Conference. The second aspect is the country gatherings. The WTO member countries formed country groups so as to speak in one voice at the issues in which they have common concern. From Cancun Ministerial Conference on, it is understood that it would not be easy to reach a consensus on a WTO issue. That's because of the conflicting interests of the WTO member countries and lack of a common WTO-wide concern. This is actually a fact stemming from a growing asymmetry among the WTO member countries.

EU's New-Age Partnerships within the New External Trade Policy
As we have briefly examined, the EU has been an active partner of the multilateral  (Bhagwati, 1995).
Even though the examination of the preferential trade relations of the EU is out of the scope of this study, a brief summary would be adequate. It should be mentioned that the EU has given priority to the developing countries which had once colonial relations with some

EU's New-Age Partnerships within the Multilateral Trading System
The EU has entered into the 2010s with various unpleasant formidable issues surrounding and embracing itself. Negative effects of the global financial crisis emanated from the US has still been affecting the EU economy. The legitimacy of the Euro as a single currency and the effectiveness of the Euro-Zone has been ambiguous. There have been hesitations on the deepening and widening of the EU. The EU has met a Brexit fact which should be tackled after the decision of the United Kingdom to exit from the full membership.
Amidst all these unfavorable context, the EU has been trying enthusiastically to strengthen its external trade policy.
Certainly, the deadlock of the DDA has accelerated the efforts of the EU in designating and updating its external trade policy. The EU's launching its new external trade policy and coming to a halt within the multilateral trading system cannot be explained as a simple coincidence. It should be remembered that the EU has been pro-active in shaping or Then, another essential question arises: In its global acting, would the EU by-pass the multilateral trading system or commit itself with it as a point-guard 1 ? A probable answer could be extracted from the Trade for All Strategy. Though it claims to respect for the interests and the values of the EU, it also confirms the EU's commitment to a forwardlooking program of negotiations to shape globalization. Priority would most likely be given to the deadlocked DDA so as to give an impetus to the multilateral trading system which was lagging behind.

Conclusion
The EU has always been a leading actor of world economics. It has been playing a constructive role in well-functioning of the multilateral trading system since the signing of GATT. Together with the establishment of the WTO, the EU has tried to enhance its efficiency in conducting a new and forward-looking agenda for the multilateral trading system. It has endeavored to incorporate investment, competition, government procurement and trade facilitation subjects, referred to Singapore Issues into the multilateral trading system. Next to these new subjects, it has promoted the DDA and tried hard to keep the negotiating countries on the table.
Alongside with the prominent role within the multilateral trading system, the EU has conducted its preferential trade relations with various countries. Most of the preferential trade relations of the EU have resembled to a hub-and-spoke type of bilateralism, allowing the EU to export its own values and merits for the economic and political stability of its partners.
However, it would be fallacious to denominate the new-age partnerships of the EU which were launched with the US, Canada, Japan and South Korea within the same category.
Instead, the EU has been pretending to regulate new trade-related issues with its new-age partners.
The new-age partnerships have been initiated soon after the deadlock of the DDA and shouldn't be regarded as a basic coincidence. They were almost the messengers of the new external trade policy of the EU which was briefly expounded at the Trade for All Strategy. It would be adequate to interpret all these new initiatives of the EU as efforts to maintain the multilateral trading system on the track which has deadlocked for more than a decade.
Consequently, it wouldn't be wrong to postulate that the EU would like to be the point-guard within the multilateral trading system in facing global challenges together and designating multilateralism for the benefit of all.