The EU and the US are holding a fourteenth round of TTIP negotiations. Few expect significant breakthroughs in the now three-year-old talks. Negotiations are deadlocked over bread-and-butter market access issues in agriculture, services, and procurement. Fundamental disagreements persist on rules on investment or on intellectual property rights (geographical indications). The UK’s …
Author: Iana Dreyer
In brief: Member states endorse EU US ‘Privacy Shield’
The Council has endorsed the renegotiated Privacy Shield, the framework agreement between the EU and the US that allows US companies to transfer personal data to from the EU to the US. “This paves the way for the formal adoption of the legal texts and for getting the EU-U.S. Privacy …
18th EU China Summit – avoiding the difficult topics
EU leaders are preparing for the annual EU China summit, to be held in Beijing on 12th and 13th July. Trade Commissioner Malmström will be in the delegation travelling there. Few concrete steps are expected at the event on trade policy. However, the issue of the EU recognising China as …
UK kicks off series of international trade deal meetings – in India
The UK’s business secretary Sajid Javid is meeting Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to discuss how a future trade relationship between the UK and India might look like once Britain is outside the EU. The trip is a first in an upcoming …
CETA: Commission caves in to member state political pressure, declares deal is ‘mixed’
The Commission’s intentions to declare CETA an EU-only agreement, loudly announced last week by President Jean-Claude Juncker, have backfired. Amidst a pushback from powerful member states, including France and Germany, the Commission has decided to declare CETA “mixed” and prioritised its coming into force provisionally as early as possible. …
Greens reject new EP report on EU trade strategy
The Green group joined the right-wing and left-wing populists in Parliament to reject a report on the EU’s November 2015 EU trade strategy Trade For All. The Parliament report on the strategy, drafted by an Italian Five Star Movement member Tiziana Beghin, entitled A forward-looking and innovative future strategy …
Argentina’s Macri seeks reassurance on EU Mercosur deal
There is nothing concrete to expect out of the meetings Argentinean President Mauricio Macri has held in Paris this week-end and in Brussels today. Buenos Aires is seeking reassurance that the EU Mercosur negotiations, relaunched in May, will go ahead, despite the likelihood of the United Kindgom leaving the EU …
Commission letter to Parliament on TiSA rebuffs MEP demands on ratchet clauses, labour rights, outlines priorities
This week the 23 parties to the Trade in Services Agreement negotiations are holding a lengthy round of talks with the aim to come close to an endgame later this year. A fresh exchange of market access offers is scheduled for October this year. In this context, Borderlex has been …
Slovakia takes over ‘poison chalice’ EU presidency
Finalising TTIP and adopting CETA are among the top trade priorities of the incoming Slovak six-month rotating EU presidency. But Bratislava’s plans will be overshadowed by the fallout of Brexit.
TiSA: MEPs on collision course with Commission
Trade Commissioner Malmström today said that the plurilateral trade negotiations on services could be finalised by end 2016. A new 12-day round of talks will start next week with the aim to approach the endgame phase. The EU’s latest market access offer tabled in late May was perceived as disappointing …
