Opening the Robert Schuman Centre’s academic year, the Yves Mény Annual Lecture welcomed over 150 participants in Florence and online. Professor Bernard Hoekman, Director of the Global Economics research area at the Global Governance Programme at the Centre, addressed the systemic challenges facing global trade governance and the implications for EU policy.
Titled ‘Global trade in transition: Can (EU-led) plurilateral cooperation tame unilateralism?’, the lecture explored the weakening of the rules-based multilateral trading system and the growing use of unilateral trade and industrial policy interventions by major economies, including the United States, China, and the European Union.
“The EU is now confronting the results of the unilateral tack it has taken,” Hoekman said, referencing the recent shift in EU trade instruments aimed at achieving non-trade objectives, such as climate action, deforestation and corporate due diligence. He emphasised that these unilateral measures, while normatively justified, lack coordination with partner countries and have caused tensions even among allies.
Further in his presentation, Hoekman outlined three potential pathways to address the current crisis in global trade governance.
The first involves reforming the World Trade Organisation, notably by addressing the consensus working practice and the scope for veto playing that has blocked progress in Geneva. The second strategy is to link existing bilateral and regional trade agreements, including those involving the EU and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), to create a broader network of rules-based cooperation. The third, and central focus of the lecture, is the use of domain- or issue-specific plurilateral agreements among like-minded countries, targeting areas such as trade and climate, critical minerals, and disciplines on subsidies and state-owned enterprises.
These flexible frameworks, Hoekman argued, could help manage the cross-border effects of industrial policy and address ‘negative spillovers’ more effectively than multilateral or bilateral approaches alone.
Turning to the European Union, Hoekman remarked that “the EU mostly pursues bilateral approaches... but has not taken a leadership role in pursuing plurilateral cooperation outside WTO.”
He stressed the need for the EU to engage more proactively to pursue plurilateral cooperation, stating that the “opportunity cost of foregoing plurilateral cooperation arguably has been significant,” especially in relation to instruments such as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), and supply chain due diligence rules.
The lecture drew on insights from Hoekman’s ongoing research, including the ERC-funded PIANO project, which investigates how countries are increasingly cooperating through non-traditional, flexible international frameworks rather than comprehensive trade agreements.
The event concluded with an open discussion, reflecting strong interest from academic and policy communities in the evolution of international trade governance and the EU’s strategic direction.
Watch the full recording of the lecture.
Since 2014, the Yves Mény Annual Lecture has provided a platform for critical reflection on key global and European policy developments, and honours its founding Director, Yves Mény. It also marks the launch of the Schuman Centre Seminar Series, which runs throughout the academic year. Watch here lectures from past years.
Bernard Hoekman is part-time Professor and Director, Global Economics at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute. He was awarded a European Research Council Advanced Grant in 2024 for a project studying Plurilateral Integration Agreements and Noneconomic Objectives (PIANO). Prior positions include Director of the International Trade Department and Research Manager in the Development Research Group of the World Bank. He has been an economist in the GATT Secretariat and held visiting positions at SciencesPo, Paris.