The president of the EU Commission took a controversial decision to accept to give a keynote speech at the annual St Petersburg Economic Forum today (16 June 2016). The speech he delivered today there sent two types of messages: to EU audiences, that there is a need to “talk with …
Author: Iana Dreyer
#FunFact EU posts sardine trade deficit, EUMOFA
Lovers of Mediterranean food fare take note: the EU posted a sardine trade deficit of €100 million, a new report by the European Market Observatory for Fisheries and Aquaculture highlights. “The deficit is attributable mainly to the import of canned sardine but also, to a lesser extent, to the …
Lange wants transparency in WTO negotiations
INTA Committee chair Bernd Lange is pushing for more ambition at the WTO, more transparency in negotiations, and the inclusion of new topics like gender and trade. “I had the pleasure to lead a delegation of 10 Members to the Ministerial Conference in Nairobi” Lange said in Geneva early this …
Iran: US sanctions seen as obstacle to trade and WTO accession
The Parliament is preparing to debate Iran in the next Plenary session on 22 June. MEPs Marietje Schaake and Bernd Lange have prepared an Oral Question, expressing worry about barriers to EU business from continued US sanctions on the Middle Eastern country. In October 2015, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of …
INTA: Left-right divide over SADC Economic Partnership Agreement
There is a clear left-right divide over the Economic Partnership Agreement between the EU and six Southern African countries signed last week in Botswana. In a debate on the deal in the European Parliament on 15 June, Alexander Lambsdorff (ALDE, Germany) said the EPA was “a successful agreement”. Lambsdorff hailed …
CETA: Dutch MPs call on Commission to wait for Singapore CJEU verdict before applying Canadian deal provisionally
Members of the upper and lower house of the Dutch parliament have called on the Commission to wait for the verdict of the Court of Justice of the EU before applying CETA ‘”provisionally” and to clarify the notion of what timeframe the notion of “provisional” entails. CETA, the EU …
EU’s new investment protection provisions in FTAs under renewed civil society fire – ETUC rejects CETA – TNI chastises ICS plans in EU Mexico
The investment court system proposed by the EU its new trade agreements’ investment protection chapters has not placated civil society groups, despite the reforms of the previous system, based on international investor-state arbitration. These reforms were adopted after a civil society and EU Parliament and (in particular) German outcry against …
MEPs want to make labour and environmental standards mandatory in EPAs with ACP countries
On Wednesday (15 June), the trade committee in the European Parliament will examine a report on the future of EU-ACP relations as Europe and Africa Caribbean and Pacific countries prepare the ground for a framework of relationships “beyond 2020”. The EU and African countries are in the process of …
BIG READ – PART 3 – China MES, the steel crisis, and the EU
Continued from Part 2.
BIG READ – PART 2 – China MES, the steel crisis, and the EU
Continued from Part 1. Crisis-stricken steel sector in lead against China MES
