Prospects for the EU’s new generation of FTAs

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Last year the European Union began negotiating free trade agreements (FTAs) with South Korea, India and ASEAN. These negotiations are important because they are among the EU’s first round of new generation FTAs as called for in the Global Europe: Competing in the World communiqué. They are also important because if and when the agreements are signed, they will be the EU’s first bilateral FTAs in the region. This Commentary by CEPS Research Fellow Selen Sarisoy Guerin describes the progress made in each of the three rounds and asks whether the so-called ‘deep’ FTA framework is feasible with these Asian partners, given these countries’ lack of experience in negotiating deep FTAs, especially with major trading blocs or developed countries.