The Paradox of Multilateralizing Regionalism through Flexibility. Remarks made within the Panel on 'Multilateralizing Regionalism and the Future Architecture of International Trade Law as a System of Law'

The structure of the WTO-RTAs’ legal relationship is characterized by ‘‘variable geometry’’ rather than by hierarchical order. Empirical observation indeed shows that RTAs choose to abide by WTO obligations, more or less. A first step towards multilateralizing regionalism would be to overturn the perspective from which the issue of WTO-RTAs’ relationship is usually considered, switching from a ‘‘top-down’’ approach (meaning that it is the WTO which determines the conformity requirements for RTAs), to a ‘‘bottom-up’’ approach (meaning that it is the RTAs themselves which determine the degree of their adherence to WTO law, through their concrete behavior). Variable geometry as described in this paper could be the second step.