The EU in bi-regional cooperation: the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

Established on 15 June 2001, to date the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is one of the biggest regional international groups considering both the population represented and the geographical area covered by it. It counts eight member states: China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and – since 2017 – India and Pakistan. Its most developed area of cooperation is security, particularly ‘non-traditional security’ (e.g. fight against terrorism, separatism, extremism, illicit drug trafficking and organised crime). This work investigates the inter-regional relations between this entity and the EU, given the rather un-explored topic this is, in the studies on EU External Relations Law. Firstly, the issue of the international legal status of the SCO is addressed. Secondly, the competence of the EU to establish relations with or to act towards the SCO is considered. Thirdly, the actual relations between the two entities are analysed at different levels of interaction and compared to other practices of EU inter-regionalism. It is found that the international legal status of the SCO as an international organisation is doubtful, while the EU would be competent to act towards and with the grouping within the CFSP and the external dimension of the AFSJ, particularly in the area of counter-terrorism. Some contacts have been observed, but to date no EU-SCO relations have been established as the EU is rather carrying out bilateral relations with SCO States or relations with other regional international institutional settings. Political dialogue and forms of cooperation in the area of security have instead been established between the EU and ASEAN. Moreover, within the framework of the OSCE, – where both all EU member states and all SCO States but China, India and Pakistan are participants states, with the EU enjoying a specific status –, a EU resistance to indirectly establish relations with the SCO itself can be observed, argumentatively defended on grounds of values the EU shares with OSCE, specifically related to the ‘human dimension’ of security (i.e. human rights and democracy issues).