The OECD

The EU has been a full participant, but not a voting member, in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) since the latter's establishment in 1961. It has also been a full member, with voting rights, in the OECD's quasi-autonomous, Development Assistance Committee (DAC) since its beginning as the Development Assistance Group (DAG) in 1960. Moreover, European Commission representatives sit regularly on at least 205 OECD committees or subcommittees, each of which meets several times a year for several days, in common with approximately 40,000 public servants drawn from the OECD member countries. All of the above suggests a rich and complex relationship that would excite scholarly attention. However, on investigation only two sources have been identified that directly address this relationship, an article by Hyams (1970) and a recent paper by Carroll and Kellow (2009). Unfortunately, the Hymans article provides, for the most part, only a description of the OECD, followed by some brief comparisons between the (then) EEC and the OECD. It does not examine the relationship between the two organisations. The Carroll and Kellow paper does look in some depth at the relationship between the two organisations, providing a brief overview of its characteristics. It suggests that they are, indeed, complex, and that their general tenor has progressed from that of competition, to that of cooperation, though by no means of complete harmony. That paper provides much of the material for this chapter. As it would hardly be proper for the authors of the Carroll and Kellow paper to assess its quality and there is no other literature to review, this chapter has three broad aims: one, to provide an overview of the historical development of the EU-OECD relationship; two, to illustrate that varying and complex nature of that relationship by examining the areas of development and trade in agriculture; three, to suggest a future research agenda that will reveal the full richness of a complex, dynamic relationship and, hopefully, encourage more research into this fascinating relationship.