Associate Middle Corridor (AMC): A Corridor-Based Architecture for Differentiated Economic Integration with the European Union

The Associate Middle Corridor (AMC) is proposed as a corridor-based architecture connecting two policy logics that already exist but are largely organised separately: corridor-wide functional interoperability and differentiated economic integration between individual corridor partners and the European Union. The architecture consists of two distinct but potentially complementary layers. A limited plurilateral AMC Minimum Interface would provide a common functional floor for lawful trade across different legal, customs, transport and information systems without requiring full legal harmonisation. A separate vertical layer would allow individual corridor partners, where legally possible and mutually agreed, to pursue voluntary sector-specific economic integration with the European Union at different levels of depth. The concept introduces an AMC Compatibility Gate to account for existing competences and third-party obligations, and an Implementation Record designed to document the factual implementation of agreed commitments without creating a political trust rating or automatic entitlement to deeper integration. AMC does not claim novelty for corridor governance, transit cooperation, differentiated integration, mutual recognition or external EU integration as individual instruments. Its proposed contribution is architectural: combining corridor-wide functional interoperability with a legally filtered layer of differentiated external economic integration. The concept advances the testable proposition that corridor reliability may increase the economic usability of integration rights, while deeper integration rights may increase the economic value of corridor reliability. This publication is a concept note and working paper. Version 1.0 has not undergone formal peer review.