News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Saturday, February 4, 2023
The European Commission accused the United States of breaching WTO rules by discriminating against products manufactured in the EU and potentially triggering a “harmful global subsidy race to the bottom on key technologies and inputs for the green transition”.
Comparing a range of international financial flows from governments to private firms with the European Union state aid environment in its single market is risky enough from the perspective of World Trade Organization legality. But the new EU foreign subsidies regulation is due to take another dive into the international …
It’s been a big week in the European Union on trade. The highlight certainly was the FTA deal announced with New Zealand on Thursday, which breaks some new ground on sustainability issues – details here. Member states have made up their minds on the burning carbon border adjustment and deforestation …
The French presidency of the EU worked until the very last hours of its rotating presidency to bring an inter-institutional agreement to bed on a regulatory file that will drastically change the way foreign investment compliance procedures will operate in the single market. This evening the three institutions announced a …
It’s been a decisive week. EU sanctions regime ventures into new* services export restrictions European Union member states finally agreed on a sixth package of sanctions targeting Russia. The highlight of this package is a partial oil embargo – six-month phase in and piped oil excluded – on imports from …
The European Union’s member states, the European Commission and the European Parliament will start inter-institutional trilogue negotiations on the EU’s new foreign subsidies regulation as soon as this week. Despite some differences in their approach capitals and member states are set to converge on a piece of legislation that might …
The European Parliament’s international trade committee has adopted by unanimity its report on the European Union’s coming foreign subsidies regulation. The new piece of legislation aims at subjecting foreign investors to the same type of subsidy control system as EU firms operating in its single market’s state-aide regime. The move …
The journey of the new EU foreign subsidies regulation through the European Parliament promises to be a rocky but not impossible one as key dividing lines among political groups emerge over critical aspects of the new legislation.
A horrendous week in European history…. The big, rough geopolitics of this world is affecting trade policy, as shown below. This week’s edition of Week in Brussels brought to you by Rob Francis and Iana Dreyer.
Businesses from Australia, India, Japan, Korea and the United States are not necessarily the main targets of the European Union’s new foreign subsidies regulation. But representatives from these countries’ business sectors, some of them among the top investors in the EU, are raising alarm bells about some procedural issues raised …
