The EU and ASEAN: Prospects for Inter-Regional Cooperation

Abstract

There is a growing tendency to compare regionalism in Europe and Asia. Such analysis often uses the EU as the basis for comparison in analyzing ASEAN’s promotion of Asian regional cooperation. However, given the significant differences between the two regions, the European experience is not directly transferable. Rather than imposing one region’s processes and experience onto the other, it is more important to cultivate inter-regional cooperation that will enable Europe and Asia to learn and benefit from each other. Despite mutual acknowledgment of the need for deeper and broader inter-regional cooperation, interaction between the EU and ASEAN has so far been limited. However, the long-term prospects for inter-regional cooperation are promising, with the EU and ASEAN facing both internal challenges in their integration processes and common economic and security threats in their respective regions.