News and analysis on trade policy in Europe
Saturday, May 3, 2025
Slovenia took over the reins of the Council less than two weeks ago and will have to steer the European Union’s trade policy through choppy waters in the coming six months. Speaking at the European Parliament on Tuesday (13 July) Zdravko Počivalšek, Slovenia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic …
The European Commission is seeking to convince sceptics on both sides of the debate on the future of the Energy Charter Treaty that negotiations to ‘modernise’ the body of rules that underpin it are making progress. And it seems that the negotiation process launched in 2020 is indeed gradually moving …
Brussels in rushing to wrap up or move specific trade file to the next level before the summer break which begins late July. EU ASEAN to meet in Q3 to discuss region to region FTA ‘parameters’ Well, nothing came out of it apart from good intentions. The EU and ASEAN …
The European Commission’s plans to press ahead with a ‘digital levy’ despite agreement at international level on taxation of companies trading across borders is not only annoying the United States, but also the European Union’s very own corporate sector, which fears trade retaliation and loss of competitiveness.
Brussels and Ankara are sitting down for two days on Thursday and Friday (8 & 9 July) for the annual meeting of their 1995 EU Turkey customs union joint committee. Among others, they will re-start a conversation on modernising their trade arrangements.
It’s taken the European Commission a few days to gather its thoughts and feedback from the wine industry following Russia’s recent decision to authorise the label ‘Champagne’ only for Russian-produced sparkling wines. But a response will soon be in the offing – and a dispute invoking EU rights under TRIPS …
The EU-Korea free trade agreement came into force ten years ago in July. This was the first in a generation of ‘deep’ trade agreements Brussels has negotiated since then, each agreement stirring more political controversy at home. It also set the tone in shaping what is today’s ‘model’ EU FTA. …
The coming months will be a challenge for advocates of international trade agreements in Brussels and the wider European Union. Post-Trump, post-Brexit and post-pandemic trade policies are bound to focus on files that respond to a sense of existential threat emanating from its member states.
It’s been the kind of week that is sprinkled with a slew of ‘little’ news but little that is earth-shattering. Some news were rather big such as the launch of investment promotion agreement negotiations with Angola, the announcement that the EU and Kenya will apply their EPA bilaterally or the …
The European Commission is now moving up a gear in preparing a long-announced new trade regulation, a so-called ‘anti-coercion’ instrument. A preliminary consultation period ended mid June. The actual relevant piece of legislation will be presented before the end of 2021.
