Conclusion

The European Union ('EU') has been particularly proactive in the area of international economic regulation, promoting multiple innovations in this space. These advances are essentially rooted in geo-economic considerations, which have become fundamental for the EU and other countries to negotiate international economic agreements, leveraging mechanisms such as countermeasures to constrain the behaviour of potential competitors. This is evidenced, for example, by the move from cultural diplomacy to an instrumental view of culture, whereby the Union protects its own audio-visual sector as a vital objective in trade negotiation policies. Notably, geo-economics may be the principal reason for the Union to decisively embrace a bilateral approach to international economic negotiations, shifting from bi-regionalism to a complex bilateral approach, as shown by the diffculties encountered in the negotiation of the EU-Association of Southeast Asian Nations free trade agreement.