Last update on 21 October 2017. 17.00 CET. Canada’s trade minister walked out of talks with the Wallonian government on Friday (21 October 2016) afternoon. Fresh language in the ‘interpretative declaration’ of CETA agreed yesterday night (20 October 2016) between the Wallonian leader Paul Magnette and the EU …
Author: Iana Dreyer
Insight: CETA reveals structural flaws of Lisbon Treaty
We are very close to a deadline for the 28 European Union member states to endorse the flagship CETA agreement. Whether the Canadian trade agreement gets endorsed this week to pave the way for an EU Canada summit on Thursday (27 October 2016) or not: CETA is a lesson in what …
TTIP: Oettinger in conciliatory mode on digital
The Commission’s Commissioner in charge of the digital economy Günther Oettinger, and famed for erring on the defensive side when it comes to handling US digital firms and shield German telecommunications champions from their market dominance, has come back from a trip to the United States with a few conciliatory …
Commission to leverage TDI to tackle market interventionism
The EU Commission appears eager to reassure critics on both sides of the China market economy status debate in Europe that it is doing something. In fact it looks as if most China trade files are stuck, or at the very least advancing at snails’ pace. The EU and China …
Brexit: US Chamber tells UK to stay as close as possible to EU market
The US Chamber of Commerce, the Untited States’ biggest business organisation, has set out how it sees the UK’s exit from the EU. And it has not minced its words. “US firms’ investments in Britain are worth nearly US $ 590 billion, employing roughly 1.2 million Britons directly and …
Germany says provisional application of CETA to fall through if deal rejected by one state
Germany has given the green light to the signing of the Canada EU trade deal at a Council meeting today following a ruling by its constitutional court that rejected requests made by NGOs to issue an injunction to the German government to stop the CETA approval process. But Berlin wants CETA …
CETA: three member states still to appease
As expected Belgium was not able to give the green light to the signature of CETA at a trade minister’s meeting this morning in Luxembourg. Romania and Bulgaria, though apparently not actively opposing signature of CETA, continue to express their ‘reservations’. Without unanimous approval, the painstakingly negotiated free trade agreement between …
Sri Lanka hopes to regain GSP Plus status in early 2017
Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe is in Brussels to negotiate on the island nation’s GSP Plus status. His is a delicate mission as the EU has set the bar high. Back in 2010, Sri Lanka lost the EU’s ‘extra’ preferential trade status given by the EU to developing economies that …
CETA approval still pending
It will be an all-nighter for Paul Magnette ahead of an EU trade ministers’ meeting in Luxembourg today (18 October 2016). But the deadline to approve CETA as planned will most likely be missed. The minister president of the region of Wallonia is holding up the approval by Belgium of the …
Steel industry calls for US-style ‘non standard methodology’ to treat future Chinese exports
Council members will not only try to reach an agreement to sign CETA at a pencilled in EU Canada summit next week. They will also discuss EU plans to overhaul its antidumping legislation ahead of a planned move to grant China market economy treatment. And the steel industry is watching …
