Julien Chaisse is Professor of Law at the City University of Hong Kong (CityU) and Advisory Board Member of the Asian Academy of International Law (AAIL).

In summary, this new volume offers a rich and dense panorama of the multiple challenges that the EU confronts in its daily external action, including many that remain underexplored in the literature. One of the originalities of this anthology lies in the comparative dimension of the issues examined. Moreover, while many of the questions investigated appear at first sight to be ‘niche’ issues, the volume develops a web of interconnections that raise overarching and even paradigmatic questions … The collection’s balance coupled with the originality of the approaches adopted in many of its chapters demonstrate, overall, the volume’s strength: it brings together internal market and EU external action specialists as well as trade policy analysts to shed important new light on some of the most topical challenges faced by the EU on the global economic stage.

• 1. The European Union: Achievements, Ongoing Challengesand Future Prospects Julien ChaissePART IEUROPEAN LEGAL INTEGRATION: PROCESS, DIFFICULTIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS2. The Rule of Law and Integration in the EU Ian Forrester KC3. The European Union as an Oxymoron: From Contest via Contradiction to Constitution? Rostam J Neuwirth4. The Social Dimension of the EU Manfred Weiss5. Geographical Scope and Diversity of EU Rules on Public Procurement Trygve Ben Holland6. Spatial Configurations of Welfare in the EU: The Case of Cross-border Healthcare Irene Sobrino Guijarro7. Godot is Finally Coming? The Great Convergence of Services Markets within the EU Panagiotis Delimatsis8. Government, Culture and Movies: In Search of a Common Understanding from a European Perspective Susana de la SierraPART IITHE EUROPEAN UNION AS A GLOBAL ACTOR: ISSUES AND PARTNERS9. The European Union and Global Economic Governance: A Leader Without a Roadmap? Jan Wouters and Akhil Raina10. Lessons from European Constitutionalism for Reforming Multilevel Governance of Transnational Public Goods in Asia? Ernst-Ulrich Petersmann11. The EU’s Civil Justice Policy Field: Perspectives for Asia? Helen E Hartnell12. Bilateralism in an Interregional World? From EU Negotiations with MERCOSUR to a Bilateral Strategic Partnership with Brazil Katharina L Meissner13. Reclaiming the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership through the EU–China Partnership and Cooperation Agreement: Taking Stock and Moving Forward Chien-Huei Wu14. Legalisation of International Economic Relations: Is Asia Unique? Shintaro HamanakaPART IIIEUROPEAN UNION’S TRADE POLICY: GLOBAL AND REGIONAL TRADE CHALLENGES15. Trade for All? Transparency in the EU’s Common Commercial Policy Fernando Dias Simões16. Investor to State Dispute Settlement Mechanisms: A Comparison of Evolving Legal Approaches in Brazilian and Latin American Relations with the European Union Daniele Bianchi and Kirstyn Inglis17. The Rise of the RCEP: Regional Multilateralism and its Impact on the EU–China BIT Olga Boltenko18. The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership: Intellectual Property Chapter, Research in Biotechnology and Price of Medicine with Lessons from the European Union Sufian Jusoh19. Geographical Indications in the EU, China and Australia: WTO Case Bottling Up Over Prosecco Danny Friedmann20. Indian Pharma Sector’s Journey for the Innovation Panacea: Lessons from Negotiations wiTheU and RCEPDebashis Chakraborty and Nilanjan Banik