The European Union(EU) as a global actor --- Internationalisation of EU fisheries policy and its impact on third countries:Case study of Thailand

Abstract

The concept of global management of marine resources, especially fisheries governance is not a radically new topic. After World War II, mainly through the UN, FAO and increasing regional institutions, regulatory and implementing mechanisms began incrementally forming. The EU, as a global actor, vertically, absorbed these universal regulations with feedback from its experimentalist governance[1] and then uploaded its “Europeanized” ideas to the international arena, meanwhile, horizontally, externalizing the EU model to third countries. This thesis will focus on the role of the EU as an international actor in the field of fisheries policy by analyzing the IUU (illegal, unreported and unregulated) fishing regulation and its impact on third countries, by researching the following questions: During last decade(2008-2018), what policies have been adopted by the EU to externalize its influence on the fisheries industry globally? What instruments have been employed by the EU to influence the fisheries industry of third countries to change their unacceptable behaviors defined by the EU? What are the consequences of the EU’s intervention? Has the EU been successful? And what responses have there been from third countries? What are the real objectives behind the EU’s policies and measures? To fully answer these questions, a case study of Thailand will be introduced and two theoretical concepts used: Market Power Europe (MPE) and Normative Power Europe (NPE) to delve into the essence of the case. EU as a global actor may impose the IUU regulation on the third countries and the severity of its impacts depends on those countries’ degree of dependency of the fisheries export to EU market. Refer to Thailand as a case study, Thailand eventually had to comply with not only IUU policy but also labor right protection. The recommendation for the third countries are to cooperate with the EU on the fair basis to eliminate any problem that may arise due to IUU regulation.