ABSTRACT
The academic literature widely acknowledges that the external policies of the European Union (EU) show a clear preference for region-to-region relations (Edwards and Regelsberger, 1990; Alecu de Flers and Regelsberger, 2005; Woolcock, 2010; Ponjaert, 2013; see also the Introduction to this volume), including more recently the emergence of a specific pattern of interregional relations, sometimes labelled ‘complex interregionalism’ (Hardacre and Smith, 2009). Indeed, this interregional focus should be seen as complementary to other types of EU external relations, i.e. what amounts to a panoply of means and instruments ranging from global to, even, intergovernmental cooperation.
