ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the politico-economic factors that contributed to the increasing extraversion of the European Union (EU) and the central role that trade policy has played in that process. Hence, though central elements of mercantilism can still be found in EU trade politics, it seems to be more appropriate to use the term neo-mercantilism when depicting the conceptual foundation of EU trade policy. Democratic transparency and accountability of institutional architecture is therefore limited, and indeed has provoked repeated criticisms. Most public debates depict General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) as a central vehicle for the breaking up of domestic services markets and a major tool for pushing-through market liberalisation in the services industry. In the GATS 2000 negotiations, regulatory rivalry appeared in other sectors as well. The campaigns were able to at least partially prevent further liberalisation in certain areas, for instance in essential public services (water, education, health, audiovisual services) in the GATS 2000 negotiations.
