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EU-Pakistan Relations: European Perspectives at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century

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The Merits of Regional Cooperation

Abstract

The principle aim of this chapter is to analyse relations between the European Union (EU) and Pakistan and to present European approaches towards the growing influence of militancy in Pakistan. To understand European perceptions of Pakistan and South Asia, it is necessary to perceive the European vision of the international order as well as the nature and essence of Europe. Moreover, in outlining European perspectives towards Pakistan and towards countering militancy in this country, the authors make a comparative analysis of the respective approaches of the US and EU towards the ‘Pakistani challenge’. This leads to the conclusion that European and American perceptions of Pakistan differ due to different attitudes and approaches towards international order as a concept, as well as issues such as war, balance of power and the use of force. The European perspective places greater stress on soft power elements as the basis of Europe’s long-term strategy in Pakistan. This approach seems to gain particular momentum in light of the Pakistan General Elections of 2013. In order to strengthen its soft power elements the EU decided not only to deploy an election observation mission to monitor the elections on May 11th but also to reconfirm its commitment to deepening and widening its relations with Pakistan, with special focus on strengthening the process of democratic transition (EEAS 2013a, b). This should be interpreted as a tangible sign of the implementation of envisaged EU-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue as agreed on in June 2012 (EEAS 2012) “which forms the bedrock of deeper EU-Pakistan relations” (EEAS 2013b).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See for India: Zajączkowski, Jakub. “Socio-economic factors determining India’s position in international relations in the age of globalization”, Asia & Pacific Studies, 2007, No. 4, pp. 51–67.

  2. 2.

    The term Central Asian Republics refers here to five states, namely Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan.

  3. 3.

    For more see: Chakma, Bhumitra. Pakistan’s Nuclear Weapons, London and New York 2009.

  4. 4.

    For European perception of South Asia, see also: Racine, Jean-Luc. “European Union and South Asia: An Appraisal”, in Khan, Jamshed Ayaz (ed.) Major Powers in South Asia, Islamabad 2004, pp. 131–162.

  5. 5.

    For more on the situation in Pakistan and implications on the security in the South Asia region see: Cappelli, Vanni. “Containing Pakistan: Engaging the Raja-Mandala in South-Central Asia”, Orbis 2007, Winter, pp. 55–70; Markey, Daniel. A False Choice in Pakistan, Foreign Affairs 2007, July/August.

  6. 6.

    For the period 2002–2006, Commission support was largely for human development especially through basic education programmes at provincial level. The Sindh Province received 39 million Euro support to implement its basic education policy while projects implemented by the Aga Khan Foundation to improve education delivery in Pakistan isolated Northern Areas received a total of 30 million Euro. Pakistan also received budgetary support of 50 million Euro to develop micro-finance for small and medium-sized enterprises. See more: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/where/asia/documents/pakistan_recent_assistance_en.pdf.

  7. 7.

    For India-EU relations see: Zajączkowski, Jakub. The evolution of the EU-India relations at the beginning of the XXI century. The Polish perspective, “Yearbook of Polish European Studies” vol. 10/2006, Warsaw 2007, pp. 81–100; Jain, Rajendra K. (red.). India and the European Union in the 21st Century, Radiant Publishers, New Delhi 2002.

  8. 8.

    Cooperation agreement between the European Community and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, relating to the partnership and to development: http://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/pakistan/eu_pakistan/chronology/index_en.htm.

  9. 9.

    http://eeas.europa.eu/pakistan/csp/07_13_en.pdf.

  10. 10.

    http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/where/asia/country-cooperation/pakistan/pakistan_en.htm.

  11. 11.

    http://ec.europa.eu/trade/creating-opportunities/bilateral-relations/countries/pakistan/.

  12. 12.

    http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2006/september/tradoc_113431.pdf.

  13. 13.

    http://ec.europa.eu/trade/issues/bilateral/countries/pakistan/index_en.htm.

  14. 14.

    http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_Data/docs/pressdata/en/declarations/108562.pdf.

  15. 15.

    Beyond this emergency response, the European Commission supports Pakistan in promoting development and eradicating poverty and extremism. A t the Donors’ Conference in Tokyo on 17 April 2009, the Commission pledged €485 million in development support for the next 5 years. It also intends to step up cooperation in the field of counter-terrorism, with a particular focus on law enforcement and criminal justice.

  16. 16.

    See for the concept of ‘citizenship society’, Quesado, Francisco Jaime The Citizenship Society, New Europe, April 22, 2012.

  17. 17.

    See also: Fair, C. Christine “The educated militants of Pakistan: implications for Pakistan’s domestic security”, Contemporary South Asia, 2008, No. 2, pp. 93–116.

  18. 18.

    For more see: A Secure Europe in a Better World – a European Security Strategy, adopted by the European Council on 12 December 2003, http://ue.eu.int/solana/securityStrategy.asp; Rynning, Sten. “The European Union: Towards a Strategic Culture?”, Security Dialogue, 2003, No. 4, pp. 479–496; Hunter, Robert E. “The US and the European Union: Bridging the Strategic Gap?”, The International Spectator, 2004, No. 1, pp. 35–50.

  19. 19.

    See more: Malik, Iftikhar. H. Islam, Nationalism and the West. Issues of Identity in Pakistan, Basingstoke 1999.

  20. 20.

    Australian perspectives of Pakistan see more: special issue of Contemporary South Asia, 2003, No. 2.

  21. 21.

    See more: Zajączkowski, Jakub. Unia Europejska w stosunkach międzynarodowych, Warszawa 2006.

  22. 22.

    See also: Ginsberg, Roy H. “Conceptualizing the European Union as an International Actor: Narrowing the Capability–Expectations Gap”, Journal of Common Market Studies, 1999, No. 2, pp. 43–59.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Contemporary India – Research and Studies, Institute for International Relations, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland

    Jakub Zajączkowski

  2. South Asia Democratic Forum (SADF), Brussels, Belgium

    Siegfried O. Wolf

  3. Department of Political Science, South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany

    Siegfried O. Wolf

Authors
  1. Jakub Zajączkowski
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  2. Siegfried O. Wolf
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Correspondence to Jakub Zajączkowski .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Political Science, South Asia Institute, Heidelberg, Germany

    Siegfried O. Wolf

  2. South Asia Democratic Forum (SADF), Brussels, Belgium

    Paulo Casaca

  3. South Asia Democratic Forum (SADF), Brussels, Belgium

    Anne J. Flanagan

  4. South Asia Democratic Forum (SADF), Brussels, Belgium

    Cátia Rodrigues

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Zajączkowski, J., Wolf, S.O. (2014). EU-Pakistan Relations: European Perspectives at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century. In: Wolf, S., Casaca, P., Flanagan, A., Rodrigues, C. (eds) The Merits of Regional Cooperation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02234-5_13

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