Is this the European Union’s approach to ‘digital partnerships’ in the Indo-Pacific just fluff? At the very least one can say it is much too timid.
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OPINION: Trade and human rights – EU is taking steps in the right direction
The EU’s climate and human rights ambitions have long been thwarted by its free trade policies. The European Commission is now showing signs of rectifying this, but it has some way to go – write eight leading NGOs.
Comment – Le Pen, Macron, and the EU’s trade policy
The current French presidential contest is tight and tense. The outcome of the run-off vote in ten days that will oppose incumbent Emmanuel Macron and the national-populist Marine Le Pen will determine whether the European Union as we know it has a future. Speaking of trade policy in this context …
OPINION: International Procurement Instrument – the end of the waiting game
As the new EU International Procurement Instrument sails through approval in Council, European Parliament rapporteur on the file Daniel Caspary explains how he sees the new legislation.
COMMENT – Ostrich policy : the EU’s anti-coercion instrument risks becoming a damp squib
The anti-coercion instrument that the European Commission is proposing for adoption this year coinciding with a crisis with China over its economic bullying of Lithuania is not only a risky institutional power transfer – it might end up being a damp squib.
Comment: EU and Singapore ready to take partnership to the next level
Just two years after the EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement entered into force, the EU and Singapore are ready to take our economic cooperation to the next level by pursuing a comprehensive digital partnership, write European Commission executive vice-president Valdis Dombrovksis and Singapore’s minister in charge of trade S. Iswaran.
Comment: Critical raw materials – a trade policy for sustainable supply chains
In a guest contribution for Borderlex, four Members of the European Parliament call for a trade policy that is better adapted to the European Union’s new Critical Raw Materials strategy as it rolls out its Fit-for-55 climate package. Concluding outstanding free trade agreements with Chile and Australia is seen as …
Comment: How to make the EU’s anti-coercion instrument work
The European Union needs an anti-coercion instrument given the reality of an increasingly harsh geopolitical landscape, writes Bernd Lange in a guest contribution for Borderlex. An effective instrument requires a comprehensive definition of economic coercion and more international coordination with like-minded countries.
Comment: EU needs to grow up and seek strategic dialogue with the United States
The United States’ crashing into a submarine agreement Australia concluded with France, getting Paris kicked out of it and replace it with its own nuclear-powered technology, all done in secret and revealed suddenly last week is a shock to everyone.
Measured Response: How to design an EU instrument against economic coercion
In the new geo-economic era, trade policy does not just follow trade logics, but also the logic of security policy and geopolitics. The EU needs an effective and credible anti-coercion instrument to meet the challenge. Here is how the EU could go about it.