INTRODUCTION

The Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the European Union and its Member States of the one part, and the Republic of Korea on the other part is the most important trade agreement concluded by the European Union (EU) since the conclusion of the Marrakesh Agreement establishing the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1994. This contribution seeks to place the EU-Korea FTA in respect to the policy and the legal framework of the European Union.

In October 2006, the European Union announced its renewed trade strategy in the Global Europe Communication. It established an integrated approach, detailing how to effectively combine internal and external policies, in order to create a favourable climate for the development of the EU's competitiveness. Among the most important elements of this new policy framework was the direction to launch Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) on an unprecedented scale in the EU. Based on this strategy, Korea emerged as one of the EU's priority FTA partners. Besides Korea, negotiations with other countries and regions in Asia and elsewhere followed. However, the negotiations with Korea were finalised first, and, thanks to its ground-breaking provisions, the EU-Korea FTA created, if not a benchmark, then, at least, a reference point for any future FTA in the EU.

As regards the legal framework in the European Union, the Agreement is significant, in the sense that negotiations were initiated and completed before the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, while the signature, provisional application and conclusion of the Agreement took place, or will take place after the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon.