ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the Cooperation Programme on Drugs Policies (COPOLAD) between the European Union (EU) and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). The interregional programme was launched in 2011 with the objectives of strengthening interregional cooperation on this transnational issue and fostering regional cohesion in CELAC. It represents much of what the EU understands an effective foreign policy to be: a normative message, effective promotion of external objectives and strengthening of EU leadership in support for regional integration. The chapter goes beyond these stated objectives and uses an inductive analysis to uncover unintended consequences of the programme both for the EU and for the interregional structure itself. Analysis of the specific interregional interactions unveils that there are discrepancies between the EU's self-perception and the perception that CELAC members have of the EU in the COPOLAD cooperation. Understanding these discrepancies in turn allows us to uncover ensuing unintended consequences. The findings help to better understand how narratives and practices of interregional relations need to be jointly examined to fully understand the scope of the EU's interregionalism abroad.
