One of the foreign policy tools the EU uses more than any other in its relations with Latin America is interregionalism: strong cooperation and interaction on a “region-to-region” level. However, if we look more closely at the EU’s three main Latin-American interregional relations with MERCOSUR, the Andean Community and Central America, we observe mixed levels of success in achieving its policy goals. How to explain this? And which conditions for a successful interregional approach can we draw from this comparative case study? 

This PhD research project will carefully look at the EU’s interregional relations with three Latin American (sub) regions: Central America, Andean Community and MERCOSUR and come up with a set of conditions that explain the success/failure of EU-led interregionalism. Whereas various variables will remain controlled when comparing these three case studies (as all three are Latin-American), general conclusions for the study of interregionalism will also be drawn. Finally, next to the academic added value of this systematic research for the study of interregionalism, this PhD study is also useful for EU foreign policy. When policy makers know about these conditions (which could be considered success factors), the EU’s interregional strategies can be adjusted/implemented accordingly as to maximize probability for a successful interregional interaction with other regional actors around the world.