Energy & Environment

Energy & Environment Latest news Mercosur

EU, Mercosur eye joint declaration on environment to flank trade pact ahead of ratification

Faced with the prospect of a trade agreement with four South American countries that has taken more than twenty years to negotiate being voted down amidst wide-spread public opinion fear it might set ablaze the Amazon forest, the European Commission has taken the initiative. And it wants to move fast …

2020 DG nomination Energy & Environment Internal EU politics Latest news Mercosur Steel

Steel, WTO leader selection, Mercosur at trade minister’s table

Protecting the steel industry, what to do with the EU Mercosur trade pact and finding common ground in the WTO director-general selection process were among the main topics discussed by trade ministers in Berlin today at an informal meeting hosted by the German presidency of the Council.

A week in Brussels Chile Energy & Environment Latest news World Trade Organization

Week in Brussels + Geneva: MPIA, cigarettes, carbon border tax, Chile

Australia’s plain packaging rules okayed by Appellate Body A brief note on the fact that the Appellate Body, as expected, upheld a panel ruling that confirmed Australia’s right to impose plain packaging – i.e. remove branding – on cigarette packs. This week’s ruling will have systemic implications also for food …

Agriculture Energy & Environment Latest news Mercosur Trade defence

EU and Argentina bury hatchet over biodiesel duties

The EU and Argentina ended six years of disagreements over the South American country’s exports of biodiesel to the bloc with a compromise that averts years of litigation in courts. In 2013, the EU introduced dumping duties on imports of the soybean-oil-based biodiesel, which was seen as harming EU producers …

Canada and CETA Energy & Environment Latest news Social & human rights

Blog: CETA – working round the treaty on climate, gender, labour

Canada and the EU hosted their first CETA Joint Committee meeting. The committee’s role is to oversee the implementation of the trade agreement. In fact, the meeting mainly dealt with demands made on it which are not in the treaty. CETA has been in force ‘provisionally’ for one year. But …

A week in Brussels Agriculture Energy & Environment Latest news Mercosur South Asia & ASEAN United States

A Week in Brussels: Polish schadenfreude, rapeseed vs palm oil, trumping ivory trade

The main obsession in Brussels this week has been the EU-US trade spat. All eyes will be on the Group of Seven meeting in Canada.  Mercosur and EU negotiators have been working until the time of writing on narrowing gaps on ‘geographical indications’ protection and Mercosur’s offer on autos (rules of origin …