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2 REGIONAL INTEGRATION AS A TRANSFER OF RULES : THE CASE OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE EUROPEAN UNION AND THE WEST AFRICAN ECONOMIC AND MONETARY UNION ( WAEMU )

The European Union (UE) model of regional integration is the only existing arrangement that extended beyond economic objectives while remaining viable. It is also the most replicated model worldwide (e.g. MERCOSUR, WAEMU, CAEMC, African Union), although these copies have only been partially achieved. The paper addresses the impact of the EU on developing countries from the angle of its influence on regional integration processes. It particularly looks at the relationship between the EU and the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU). The paper is organised along the three dimensions of the replicability of a regional integration model. Firstly, the histories of the construction of the EU and the WAEMU respectively, as well as their different trajectories are presented (part 1). Secondly, the issues related to the replication of the EU institutions are analysed, under the two dimensions of the EU rules that were transposed to the WAEMU and the constraints in the WAEMU that make impossible such a replication (part 2). Thirdly, the asymmetry between the EU and the WAEMU is examined under two broad aspects, macroeconomic and financial, and the current EU regional policies. Regional integration, as well as its replication, mobilises the three dimensions of institutions, economies and political economy (part 3). The current changes in the EU model may have a direct impact on the WAEMU and on African regionalism at large.