The Commission’s proposals to reform ISDS in its coming trade and investment treaties made public today reveal a gradual and incremental approach to reforming Europe’s investment protection system. This will not likely appease left-of-centre critics of international investment tribunals. By Iana Dreyer.
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Comment: TTIP on track but on the slow lane
After round 9 of TTIP negotiations held on 19-24 April in New York city, it is clear that the strategic transatlantic trade talks are now firmly on track. Negotiations had entered a lull in 2014, but serious moves by Brussels and Washington to give them ‘a fresh start’ early this year have borne fruit. Expect nonetheless the TTIP train …
COMMENT: What an ECJ opinion on EU accession to Europe’s foremost human rights convention means for ISDS
Opinion 2/13 anyone? This is a recent legal opinion of the Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice on whether it is legal for the EU to join the European Convention on Human Rights. It has important ramifications for current EU Commission efforts to reform investor-to-state dispute settlement. By Iana Dreyer.
Opinion: New European trade strategy needs rethink in global value chain world
The EU Commission has recently announced there will a new trade policy strategy this autumn. Corinne Vadcar, a Paris-based trade analyst, writes that a completely new approach to trade policy is needed. European trade policy cannot only be about negotiating trade agreements, but about making Europe’s domestic and international economic policies more coherent and helping SMEs join …
Comment: Centre-right MEPs have seized the moment on ISDS
The EU Parliament centre-right majority group are becoming more visible in the debate on investment protection issues in trade agreements and in TTIP. MEPs from the EPP made an unusual show of presence and responsiveness at the trade committee meeting on 18 March 2015 in which trade commissioner Malmström presented the …
Comment: TTIP negotiations – a long road to Golgotha
If the road to TTIP can be compared to that to Golgotha, trade negotiators in Washington and Brussels are still only at the very bottom of the Via Dolorosa. That’s a conclusion one can draw from the speeches by EU trade commissioner Malmström and US ambassador Anthony Gardner held in …
Expert interview : Lifting trade preferences for Bosnia & Herzegovina is counterproductive
In an interview with Iana Dreyer, Bodo Weber, a seasoned Balkans expert at the Berlin-based Democratisation Policy Council, explained why the EU’s move to lift trade preferences granted to Bosnia and Herzegovina collides with Brussels’ recent drive to revive accession talks with Sarajevo. A longer, more detailed, version of the article …
Comment: When will the EU’s ad-hoc approach to transparency in trade policy end?
EU member states are expected to give the green light to publishing the negotiationg mandate they gave to the Commission on the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA). This follows on a similar move on TTIP late last year. Now is time for EU institutions to abandon the ad hoc approach …
COMMENT: Turning the tide on deteriorating EU investment protection standards after Lisbon
The standards of investment protection in the European Union (EU) have been lowered at a time when the bloc badly needs private and foreign direct investment, argues Nikos Lavranos in a piece of commentary on the state of investment law on the continent. But the EU can turn the tide …
EU trade policy: Pascal Lamy hopes for Commission firmness
In an exclusive interview with Borderlex, the former WTO director general, who has also served as European Union trade commissioner and as chef de cabinet of Jacques Delors, architect of the EU’s single market, shared some of his views on the current politics of trade in Brussels. One of his …
